This publication does not presume to tell our readers how they should vote. But we can deplore the absence of choice from one particular ballot, that for the Irish presidential election which takes place on 24 October.
One presidential hopeful, Maria Steen, failed to obtain sufficient nominations for the quota needed to secure a place on the ballot. That is a telling reflection on the condition of Irish democracy.
Maria Steen is not just a Catholic – formerly this observation would have been entirely unremarkable in respect of a presidential candidate – but one of the most prominent Catholic laypeople in the country. She is a formidable public speaker, a lawyer, an authoritative
voice in debates on social and moral issues and a woman of substance.
