TV star Muireann O’Connell opens up on pressure on women to 'hurry up' to have kids

But the Limerick-born presenter said she prefers to live life at her own pace, especially when it comes to making big decisions.

“I'm a little bit older, I don't have kids. I'm in that space that I think an awful lot of people are in, where it's like I should have everything worked out and sorted,” the thirtysomething presenter said in an interview with Irish Country Magazine.

“Like the rules of the game are you know what's happening in your life at this stage. But I don't know what's happening in my life at this stage.”

However, the Virgin Media star added that she doesn’t feel the need to bow to pressure to have ticked off boxes at certain points in her life.

“The societal norm of what we should be doing at a certain time in our lives, I just don't feel it and I don't think there's anything wrong with that,” she said.

Muireann added that she thought her friends felt the same, but then some of them started their families during lockdown.

“I was like: ‘Sorry, lads, hold on now, you've zoomed ahead here’ and they're like: ‘No love, we're getting older, you'd want to hurry up’.”

The Ireland AM star also spoke about her forthcoming wedding, adding that she wouldn’t opt for the tradition of being ‘given away’.

It was revealed that the presenter was engaged on live TV last year when her co-presenters Tommy Bowe and Alan Hughes spotted her engagement ring.