Maria Walsh (Irish politician)

Maria Walsh (born 11 June 1987) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since July 2019. She is a member of Fine Gael, part of the European People's Party. Outside of politics, she is known for winning the 2014 Rose of Tralee pageant.

This article is about the Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former Rose of Tralee. For other uses, see Maria Walsh (disambiguation).

Maria Walsh

MEP
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2 July 2019
ConstituencyMidlands–North-West
Personal details
Born (1987-06-11) 11 June 1987
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party Irish:
Fine Gael
 EU:
European People's Party
Websitemariawalsh.eu
Military service
Allegiance Ireland
Branch/service Army Reserve
UnitCavalry Corps

Early life and education

Maria Walsh was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 11 June 1987. Her mother, Noreen, grew up in Leitir Móir in Connemara in County Galway, while her father Vincent is from Roundfort in County Mayo. She has three siblings. The family moved to Shrule, County Mayo in Ireland in 1994. After her college education, she emigrated to New York City in the United States, and then moved to Philadelphia in 2011.[1][2][3][4]

2014 Rose of Tralee

The 2014 Rose of Tralee was the 55th edition of the annual Irish international festival held on 15–19 August 2014. The international finals of the competition were broadcast live by RTÉ One television on 18–19 August.

Maria Walsh, competing as the Philadelphia Rose, was crowned the winner of the competition on 19 August. She was aged 27 at the time, and had moved to Philadelphia in 2011.[1][2]

She had been the favourite with the bookies, with Paddy Power offering odds of 2/5 for her to take victory.[5][6][7][8]

2019 European Parliament election

During the 2019 European Parliament election campaign, a website "designed to look like a campaign site in favour of Walsh’s candidacy" was set up to oppose her campaign and " 'the homosexual lifestyle' ".[9] The website broadcast ads on Google and Facebook. After Fine Gael requested that both Google and Facebook remove the ads, Facebook refused to do so, professing that the ads 'did not break community standards'.[10]

Walsh was elected as an MEP from Midlands–North-West constituency at the 2019 European Parliament election. She is a member of Fine Gael and part of the European People's Party. She was the third of four successful candidates, elected with an eventual total of 107,198 votes (including 64,500 first preferences under Ireland's STV voting system, 10.8% of the first preferences for all candidates) on the 13th and final count (without reaching the quota of 118,986 votes). Walsh placed behind her Fine Gael colleague Mairead McGuinness and Independent Luke "Ming" Flanagan, and ahead of Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy. Unlike Walsh, the other three successful candidates were already sitting MEPs for the constituency.[11]

In the European Parliament

In February 2020, Walsh broke with European People's Party (the European Parliamentary party of which Fine Gael is a member) ranks to support a veto on the construction of a number of energy production projects across Europe which included 55 fossil fuel projects. Walsh was one of only three EPP members to do so. One of the 55 fuel projects in question is a Liquefied natural gas station at Ballylongford in County Kerry, which critics suggest could be used to bring imported fracked gas into Ireland from the US and Canada. Outlining the reasons behind her vote, Walsh underlined her opposition to fracking. The veto did not pass, but fellow Irish MEPs such as the Green Party's Ciaran Cuffe praised her for her actions.[12][13]

Personal life

Walsh revealed that she is lesbian five days after winning the Rose of Tralee in 2014.[2][14][15]

In April 2019, she was serving as a member of the Army Reserve, as a trooper with the Cavalry Corps (1st Armoured Cavalry Squadron) based in the Defence Forces Training Centre, Curragh Camp, which she said she had been doing for 'about two years'.[16]

References
  1. "Philly's Rose is New Rose of Tralee". RTÉ News. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  2. Rose of Tralee reveals that she's gay Archived 25 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine RTÉ News, 24 August 2014.
  3. "Maria Walsh (Official Website)". Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. "Google lead search result for 'Maria Walsh date of birth'". 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019. June 11, 1987 age 31 years
  5. "Philadelphia Rose crowned 2014 Rose of Tralee". Irish Times. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  6. "2014 International Rose of Tralee winner: Maria Walsh". Irish Independent. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. "THE ROSE OF TRALEE: Festival of fun, frocks and frolics". Irish Examiner. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. "As it happened: The crowning of the Rose of Tralee 2014". The Journal. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  9. Duffy, Rónán. "Fine Gael complains to Facebook over ads for website targeting Maria Walsh and 'the homosexual lifestyle'". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 13 August 2019. The website is designed to look like a campaign site in favour of the Walsh’s candidacy but instead casts her in a negative light. The website is found at a web address similar to the candidate’s mariawalsh.eu website.
  10. Daly, Adam. "Facebook ads for website targeting Maria Walsh deemed not to break community standards". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  11. "Elections 2019 - European Election - Midlands-North-West". RTÉ News. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  12. Hennessy, Michelle (12 February 2020). "MEP Maria Walsh defies FG and supports motion to block controversial Shannon LNG terminal". Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  13. McNeice, Stephen (12 February 2020). "Greens praise FG MEP Maria Walsh for breaking party ranks on energy vote". Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  14. Rose of Tralee reveals she's gay Sunday Independent, 24 August 2014.
  15. Rose heartened by response to revelations that she is gay Irish Times, 25 August 2014.
  16. Allison Bray (17 April 2019). "'The more women in reserve army, the better' - ex-Rose of Tralee Maria". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 May 2019. Not only that, she is understood to be the first Rose in the history of the Defence Forces to swap her tiara for a rifle as a member of the Armoured Cavalry Squadron based at the Curragh, in County Kildare. She is also among 236 women who are currently members of the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF). The 'about two years' is part of what she says about herself when speaking in the accompanying recruitment video.
European Parliament
Preceded by
Marian Harkin
(Independent)		 Member of the European Parliament for Midlands–North-West
2019–present		 Incumbent
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