Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has announced she is expecting her first baby following fertility treatment.
The former Rose of Tralee, who is a member of the LGBTQI community, said she is 16 weeks pregnant. Walsh (38) said that while she hadn’t planned on “doing it on my own”, wanting a family was “always a part of my bucket list”.
Walsh, who was born in Boston and grew up in Co Mayo, made the announcement on social media on Saturday.
Speaking later on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor show, she said she started her fertility journey over a year ago and there was a “wave of emotion” attached to it.
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“I did it on my own for various reasons, out of fear and really out of control,” she said.
“I don’t know if other women feel this, be it in a partnership or like me as a single woman doing this. There are so many things that are uncontrollable about fertility.
“I have an absolute admiration for my body now that I didn’t have before.”
Walsh said that “for the longest time” she didn’t tell anybody about her fertility treatment and worked with a talk therapist along the way.
Walsh said at the end of February she didn’t feel well and experienced heavy bleeding and thought she had miscarried.
She had a scan and transvaginal ultrasound the following week and was told her baby “looked fine”.
“In that moment my head and my heart connected and it was a relief but I share that because that’s possibly a journey for many,” she said.
“Through all my tests and checks, I sat in a waiting room that was incredibly packed. There was a lot of people ... perhaps some single women like me who are LGBTI, or there were single women who were straight, or there was couples who were just going through the first round or second round, but the scare of miscarry is an incredible fear.
“I’m privileged to say that right now, I feel incredibly healthy. My baby’s healthy. We’re on track, good size, great heartbeat but for others that’s not a lived experience. I think the more we give space to that story, the more we’re able to support it.”
Walsh said her family are “so excited” and have been “very supportive” since telling them.
She said the baby is due in mid-October and she will take November as maternity leave.
Walsh, who has been an MEP for the Midlands–North-West constituency since 2019, plans to start work again remotely in December and to be back in the European Parliament full-time in January.
