Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has announced she is expecting her first child following fertility treatment, saying that while she had not originally planned on going through the process alone, starting a family had always been part of her life’s ambitions, reports Breaking News.
Walsh, aged 38 and a former Rose of Tralee, made the announcement on social media before speaking at greater length on RTÉ’s Brendan O’Connor show, where she said she had begun her fertility journey just over a year ago.
She said she had chosen to pursue the treatment on her own for reasons she described as stemming from a combination of fear and a desire for control, reports Breaking News.
“I did it on my own for various reasons, out of fear and really out of control. 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,” reports Breaking News.
“I have an absolute admiration for my body now that I didn’t have before,” she said, reports Breaking News.
Walsh said she had kept her fertility treatment entirely private for a long period, working with a talk therapist throughout the process.
She recalled a frightening moment in late February when she felt unwell and experienced heavy bleeding, fearing she had suffered a miscarriage, reports Breaking News.
A subsequent scan the following week confirmed her baby was doing well, a moment she described as one where her head and her heart finally connected and she felt a profound sense of relief.
She said she shared this experience because it was a journey many others may recognise, having sat in waiting rooms filled with single women, LGBTQI+ individuals, and couples at various stages of fertility treatment, all facing the same fear of miscarriage, reports Breaking News.
Walsh, who has represented the Midlands-North West constituency in the European Parliament since 2019, confirmed that she plans to begin working remotely in December and to return to the Parliament full-time in January, following the arrival of her baby, which is due in October 2026, reports Breaking News.
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