{"id":339754,"date":"2026-02-16T06:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/339754\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T06:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:24:08","slug":"the-bag-was-a-gift-maria-steen-on-the-presidential-campaign-accessory-that-prompted-widespread-comment-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/339754\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The bag was a gift\u2019 \u2013 Maria Steen on the presidential campaign accessory that prompted widespread comment \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maria Steen<\/a> has said that a Herm\u00e8s handbag she was photographed with at the time of her unsuccessful presidential bid<\/a> was a gift from her husband and cost \u201cnothing like the figures that were mentioned\u201d. <\/p>\n

Steen, a conservative campaigner who had tried to run as an Independent candidate in last year\u2019s election, missed out on a place on the ballot paper after securing 18 of the required 20 signatures from TDs and Senators before the deadline for nominations.<\/p>\n

During her final public appearance in the nominations race, Steen was seen and photographed carrying a light blue Herm\u00e8s bag on her arm, leading to much commentary in traditional and social media<\/a>, with the accessory estimated to cost anywhere between \u20ac10,000 and \u20ac40,000. <\/p>\n

In an interview with The Irish Times<\/a> last year, Steen said the \u201chandbag was deliberate\u201d and that she wanted to \u201cexpos\u00e9 the hypocrisy of the left who don\u2019t love the poor; they just hate the rich\u201d. <\/p>\n

Speaking on RT\u00c9 Radio 1\u2019s Brendan O\u2019Connor show on Sunday, Steen reiterated: \u201cI was asked, \u2018Was it [the handbag] deliberate?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 I thought carefully about what I was going to wear that day. I didn\u2019t know whether I would be going to the Customs House with my nomination paper or whether I would be giving a concession speech. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut either way, I thought, \u2018I\u2019m putting myself forward for the highest job in the land. I should make an effort, and I should try to look my best for the sake of the people whom I am asking for their permission to represent them.\u2019 And I think it\u2019s a sign of respect to put your best foot forward and that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe bag was a gift many years ago from my husband to me as a sign of affection and appreciation. And it costs nothing like the figures that were mentioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steen also said she did not regret seeking a nomination for the presidential election, describing it as \u201ca fascinating adventure\u201d. <\/p>\n

She said the reaction from people was \u201coverwhelming\u201d<\/a> and it took her months to get through emails sent to her. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Where next for the conservative right after Maria Steen\u2019s failed presidential bid?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I couldn\u2019t get over was the breadth of support right across all kinds of communities, all kinds of backgrounds; tradespeople, teachers, stay-at-home mums, consultant doctors, lawyers; you name it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Steen said such people were united on two issues \u2013 the \u201cunfairness\u201d of candidates being \u201cblocked\u201d for nomination, and also feeling their voices were not being heard in the Oireachtas, media and elsewhere. <\/p>\n

She said she had been taking stock over recent months and \u201cseeing what, if anything, I can contribute in the future\u201d. <\/p>\n

She has not had any formal approaches from any political party or movement, she said, adding, \u201cWe\u2019ll see what the future holds.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maria Steen has said that a Herm\u00e8s handbag she was photographed with at the time of her unsuccessful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,74467,19,17,11,12,15,16,30253,5,59,7,8],"class_list":["post-339754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-hermes","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-maria-steen","tag-news","tag-presidential-election","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116078881216397379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}