Her sister Susan Stein gave evidence in 2008 that she discussed her sister’s citizenship with Dana’s husband, Damien Scallon, and Dana’s brother and adviser in her current presidential campaign, John Brown, during the presidential contest in 1997.
“When she ran for the presidential election in Ireland, John and Damien and I had a meeting,” Ms Stein told the US court. “She had just acquired her American citizenship, at the same time she was running for president of a foreign country, and the decision was made that it wouldn’t look very good if the people of Ireland knew she was an American citizen.”
Ms Scallon said yesterday her husband and her brother could not remember the conversation. She had not sought to keep her US citizenship secret. “Why would I? Wasn’t de Valera ?”
Dana Became US Citizen Before 1997 Election Bid (Colm Keena, Irish Times)