Rose of Tralee chief hits back at ‘boorish nonsense’

Rose of Tralee Festival boss Anthony O’Gara has hit back at "some zealous, angry, if perhaps, misguided social commentators" who regularly castigate the event.

He says it’s time to correct some misconceptions and “boorish nonsense” about the €12m festival, which is not interested in stereotyping women.

“We celebrate exceptional women and accept them as the proud people they are, whatever that might be,” he states.

In an open letter, Mr O’Gara says the festival has been one of the most important threads to connect Irish people throughout the world with home for more than 55 years.

“We’re not sensitive to criticism, but we are sensitive to boorish nonsense from uninformed opinion writers. So, let’s be a little bit fair when commenting on the festival,’’ he writes.

“The Rose of Tralee is not all about Paddy Whackery, Colleens on Parade, Stepford Wives tricked out as national stereotypes, flagrant misogyny or masquerading as Irish culture. We don’t have a 1950s ethos — we do have a proud history and each year the Roses reflect women as they are today. Their ethos is ours.”

The executive chairman says the people running the event, from planning to judging, were born long after the break-up of The Beatles and they choose judges who want to find a relevant, independent, modern woman to represent the diaspora with pride.

“Please, get over the outdated ‘lovely girls’ joke,” he goes on.

“We don’t do more ‘mock Irishness’ or indulge in ‘plastic paddies’. The 200,000 people who engage with us annually and the TV viewers are real people. To dismiss it simply by forming opinions based on seeing elements of one of Ireland’s most popular TV shows each year, without attending the festival is simply an excuse to trot out flagrant verbal rubbish for the sake of it.

“This bandwagon has long since lost its wheels after being so laden-down with the prejudices of uninformed baloney of the faux intellectuals who trip over each other to impress their peers.”

He describes the Roses as exceptional young women chosen from almost 1,000 of their peers.

However, Mr O’Gara stresses they are not professional entertainers, but enduring people who entertain and enthral as best they can through a bit of harmless fun on stage.

“But most importantly, they reflect some pride in the communities that they represent,” he writes.

“We are, in effect, honouring them and celebrating them as representatives of families and communities from our scattered generations.”

* Recently crowned Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh, of Philadelphia, is to appear on The Late Late Show tonight.