Colonel William A. Phillips

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.

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]

Between 2017 and 2019 Walsh 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.[5]

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.[6][7][8][9] During her time as the reigning Rose of Tralee, Walsh met with US President Barack Obama in the White House on St. Patrick's Day 2015.[10]

Political career

2019 European Parliament election

Walsh first entered electoral politics in the 2019 European Parliament election. During the 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' ".[11] 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'.[12] Despite this, Walsh was elected in that election as an MEP from Midlands–North-West constituency as a member of Fine Gael and of the European People's Party. She was the third of four successful candidates; 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.[13]

In the European Parliament

In October 2019, Walsh, alongside fellow members of Fine Gael Mairead McGuinness, Frances Fitzgerald and Seán Kelly, voted against an EU resolution to increase the number of vessels providing search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean. Walsh said she did in fact support more search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean but cited an amendment inserted into the resolution which would have mandated that radar information would be shared among all vessels in the Mediterranean, a provision that Walsh suggested would backfire by tipping-off human smugglers, helping them avoid the authorities. The resolution was rejected by a margin of two votes.[14][15]

As a dual US-Irish citizen, Walsh was entitled to vote in the 2020 US Presidential election, and did so, casting her vote for Joe Biden.[10]

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 Ciarán Cuffe praised her for her actions.[16][17]

In June 2021 while speaking in the European Parliament, Walsh called for more focus to be given to sexual rights and reproductive rights in education following the publishing of a report by the EU calling for greater rights for women across member nations.[18]

In July 2021 Walsh supported the European Commission's legal action against Hungary and Poland over their attempts to introduce laws concerning the LGBT Community there. Walsh stated "In the two years that I've been elected, we have had a number of resolutions: one being against what Poland had done in terms of creating these LGBTI free zones. Again, and most recently with the Hungarian changes in their legislation that is anti-everything the EU stands for in terms of values and principles such as treating everyone equal and fair. But ultimately, we need the Commission now to ensure that if this two month period for infringement procedures, if that is not seen, we cannot kick the bucket down the line any further. We need to have action. Orbán faces a new election next year and it's important that myself and other MEPs continue to denounce his work." Walsh also announced she would be attending a pride march in Budapest, with the goal of demonstrating to the Hungarian LGBT community that the EU stood by them.[19]

Personal life

Walsh revealed that she is lesbian after winning the Rose of Tralee in 2014.[2][20][21]

References

  1. ^ a b "Philly's Rose is New Rose of Tralee". RTÉ News. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Allison Bray (17 April 2019). "'The more women in reserve army, the better' - ex-Rose of Tralee Maria". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. 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.
  6. ^ "Philadelphia Rose crowned 2014 Rose of Tralee". Irish Times. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 20 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  7. ^ "2014 International Rose of Tralee winner: Maria Walsh". Irish Independent. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  8. ^ "THE ROSE OF TRALEE: Festival of fun, frocks and frolics". Irish Examiner. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  9. ^ "As it happened: The crowning of the Rose of Tralee 2014". The Journal. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  10. ^ a b Donohoe, Siobhan (29 January 2021). "We are all activists within our own lives and the community is so essential to that' - MEP Maria Walsh". Kilkenny People. County Kilkenny. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  11. ^ Duffy, Rónán. "Fine Gael complains to Facebook over ads for website targeting Maria Walsh and 'the homosexual lifestyle'". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. 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.
  12. ^ Daly, Adam. "Facebook ads for website targeting Maria Walsh deemed not to break community standards". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  13. ^ "Elections 2019 - European Election - Midlands-North-West". RTÉ News. 29 May 2019. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  14. ^ MacNamee, Garreth (25 October 2019). "MEP Maria Walsh defends voting down move to enhance rescue operations for migrants". TheJournal.ie. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  15. ^ O'Brien, Fergal (25 October 2019). "McGuinness and Walsh defend vote against search and rescue resolution". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  16. ^ Hennessy, Michelle (12 February 2020). "MEP Maria Walsh defies FG and supports motion to block controversial Shannon LNG terminal". Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  17. ^ McNeice, Stephen (12 February 2020). "Greens praise FG MEP Maria Walsh for breaking party ranks on energy vote". Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  18. ^ "MEP Maria Walsh calls for a frank discussion and direction on sexual and reproductive rights in education". Connaught Telegraph. County Mayo. 24 June 2021. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  19. ^ Quann, Jack (22 July 2021). "Hungary: Maria Walsh calls on EU to do more against country's LGBT stance". Newstalk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  20. ^ Rose of Tralee reveals she's gay Archived 30 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine Sunday Independent, 24 August 2014.
  21. ^ Rose heartened by response to revelations that she is gay Archived 11 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine Irish Times, 25 August 2014.

External links

European Parliament
Preceded by Member of the European Parliament for Midlands–North-West
2019–present 		Incumbent
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Walsh_(politician)