Daithí Ó Sé on his memories of the Rose: ‘I owe a lot to the people of Tralee’

Daithi Ó Sé has been ten years at the helm of the Rose of the Tralee stage. As he returns to the stage, he shares his festival highlights

Mon, 21 Aug, 2023 - 17:54

Daithi Ó Sé

I always had fond memories of the Rose of Tralee as a young fella.

I remember getting The Kerryman newspaper and my sister, Marianne, and I would go through the pictures of the roses trying to pick a winner.

We both always had the Kerry rose picked for obvious reasons and the Chicago rose too because most of my mother and father’s families are there.

If I’m honest I was looking for the finest-looking one too, but never told anyone!

Some of my earliest memories of the Rose is of being in Tralee during this time — we were in getting clothes because we were always back to school the following week.

There was no buying stuff online that time, we got a new pair of jeans and shoes at Christmas and August. I loved the excitement around the town and all that went with it.

Years later I got a call to host the Kerry Rose selection and that was the real start of it for me.

It’s a show I still host, and it was a great training ground if you like for the main gig at the end of summer.

You are in with the grassroots and that is so important, and where you need to be with a show like the Rose of Tralee. It’s all about people and community and the day you forget that you’re screwed.

Dáithí Ó Sé: "People always say to me that the winner is picked the week before and that is a load of crap. In 2009 we didn’t have the Rose picked until during the ad break before she was announced." Pic: Domnick Walsh.

Before getting the main gig, I was a judge at regional and international level and was the chair of the international panel in 2009, the year before I took over as host.

Being the host is a lot easier. People always say to me that the winner is picked the week before and that is a load of crap. In 2009 we didn’t have the Rose picked until during the ad break before she was announced.

I remember getting a call to say Ray D’Arcy was hanging up his tux and I was asking the person, ‘Why are you calling me about this?’. I don’t think I ever saw myself in that role.

I really liked Ray doing the show and I thought he was great at it, so I was surprised when I heard he was leaving.

Eddie Doyle was the head of entertainment in RTÉ at that time, and he called me to see if I was interested in hosting it.

Of course I was but at that time I was fulltime with TG4 and would have to clear it with them.

As it happened, I was offered the Daily Show with Claire Byrne around the same time and moved to RTÉ at that stage, but TG4 had given me the go-ahead to do the show which was pretty cool of them.

Even though I told them I was interested in hosting the Rose, it still had to be passed by the bosses.

I was in Portland Maine, doing a series for TG4 and I remember getting a call that woke me at 4am for Eddie to say that the job was mine.

I was in the room alone and jumping around and wasn’t allowed to tell everyone.

There was a lot of press when I was announced which showed that people were really interested and that was really good.

Sydney Rose Brianna Parkins teaches Daithí Ó Sé to samba dance onstage in the Festival Dome during the 2018 Rose of Tralee. Pic: Domnick Walsh.

I’m not sure I understood what it all really meant until I actually landed in Tralee the Friday before the first live show in 2010.

Before I landed all the talk was about the people who had presented it before me like Gay, Ray, Marty and Ryan and the million or so who would be watching.

When I landed in Kerry, they didn’t give a hoot about all of that, I was the first Kerry man to be the host and that’s all that mattered.

I remember being at the parade on the Saturday night with 15,000 people on the streets and people chanting my name and having posters with my face on them.

I was blown away; I was actually very emotional and realised at that moment that this meant a lot to the people of Kerry.

There’s two ways you can take this pressure. You can let it control you or kick it up the arse. I went with the second one.

I caught it, held it and channelled all the positivity into the first walk-on I had on the Monday. I owe a lot to the people of Tralee for that. It’s the closest thing you get to playing football for the county.

I think that was one of the most exciting moments of my life, when they called my name, and I walked out. The first time you do anything only happens once as you know, and I loved every minute of it.

People ask if I was nervous and to be honest it was so exciting, I didn’t take any notice of anything else. Mam, Dad, Rita and other family members were there. I knew they were proud and that made me happy.

I’ve had great nights on stage since that first night. We had a proposal live on stage and I thought the Rose wasn’t going to say yes and she said no nine times.

Another night when I was on stage with the New York Rose and we were finishing the chat when the stage lads brought out a birthday cake.

I remember saying to myself ‘I don’t think this was supposed to be happening’. Anyway we all sang happy birthday, the Rose blew out the candles and after the show I said it to her and she was as puzzled as I was. It wasn’t her birthday at all, but she went with it and played the game.

Somebody got their wires crossed as it was another Rose’s birthday, but the New York rose got her cake. We had a good laugh after. These things happen in a live show.

Daithí Ó Sé and Kathryn Thomas - co-hosts of the Rose of Tralee, 2023

The Rose of Tralee is a lot more than a TV show. The festival itself is the backbone of the summer in the town.

To me, it’s all about the people of Tralee and the county. I love the way they see me as one of their own.

Even though I’m from the Gaeltacht, they kinda see me as a townie from Tralee and I love that. Roll on the 21st. I can’t wait to get out on that stage.