People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has opened up on he and his partner's journey with IVF.
The Dublin politician and his partner, Jess Spears, have been trying for a baby since 2018.
They have gone through two cycles of the treatment and will be doing a frozen embryo transfer later this month.
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Ireland is the only state in the EU that doesn't offer publicly funded IVF treatment and a cycle here typically costs between 4,500 and 5,000.
Slaintecare and the Programme for Government commit to funding the treatment, but no timeline has been announced yet on when this will be rolled out.
Deputy Murphy and Ms Spear appeared on Today with Claire Byrne on RTE Radio One to discuss their journey so far with IVF.
"At the moment we are getting ready to go through what's called 'a frozen embryo transfer'," Jess said.
"So we went through two cycles of IVF where you're looking to harvest eggs, combine them with sperm and make embryos at the end.
"If you have more than one that looks good, they'll freeze a few of them so that if the first one they put in you doesn't result in a pregnancy, you have other chances.
"So that's where we're at right now, where the one they transferred back in October after the second cycle didn't result in a pregnancy, we have two that are frozen.
"So it's scheduled for later this month."
She said it's a "real challenge" as it is almost a month long process.
"You're preparing your body and your womb. You're having nearly daily hormone shots, sometimes twice a day. You're taking vitamins and you're staying on top of all of this. Then there's the emotional toll that it takes.
"The medication itself is hormones so you go through mood swings, fatigue. It's quite a stressful process to go through."
Deputy Murphy said the couple first started trying to have a child four years ago and discussed how their path to starting IVF treatment.
He said: "I think it was a gradual thing for us to come to that conclusion. The first thing you're doing is trying naturally and they say you need to do that for six months.
"Then we were dealing with particular things in terms of Jess' thyroid levels and we dealt with medication for that for about a year or so, trying to get on top of that.
"Then by the time you're on top of that, quite a lot of time has gone past.
"We were very fortunate to be in a position to decide to go down the route of IVF and say 'okay if we get to that stage then that's what we'll do'.
"We started that process close to two years ago."
He said he does what he can to "reduce the stress" as the physical burden falls on Jess.
"This is something that we're in together that we decided to do together to try and have a kid.
"But obviously the vast burden of the physical toll falls on Jess. That's just the reality, she's the one that has to go through the hormones and get the injections.
"I try to do everything I can to support Jess in that... but you can't take on the physical burden so it's really about trying to do what you can to reduce the stress and make Jess feel supported."
Deputy Murphy said that because the treatment is not yet publicly funded in Ireland, access to IVF is "rationed according to wealth."
"We were fortunate to be in a position where, yes it's a decision to spend it on this rather than other things but we could actually make that choice.
"It's just very difficult for people. Bluntly, the current situation is that access to this really important service is rationed according to wealth."
"We're pretty alone in Europe in that. In most European countries they have provided for free some number of cycles and in other countries they partially fund IVF cycles.
"But you have commitments for it. It's in Slaintecare and the Programme for Government but there's no progress or timeline or indication of when it's actually going to happen."
In a statement to the Today with Claire Byrne show, the Department of Health said: "The model of care comprises three stages. Phase two of the rollout will see the introduction of tertiary and fertility services in the public health system but it won't commence until such time as infertility services at secondary level are developed around the country.
"Required resources have been allocated and the assisted human reproduction legislation commenced which will allow for robust regulatory framework to put in place."
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