Beauty pageants deny right of children to be children, Minister claims

Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, said pageants go against the rights of children to be children.

Fitzgerald has welcomed the decision of a Dublin hotel to cancel a child beauty pageant which was due to take place tomorrow.

Speaking this morning, Minister Fitzgerald said the pageants are an unwelcome development here;

"I believe that we must stand up for the right of three-year-olds to be three-year-olds … and not have this early sexualisation of young people - so I don't welcome this development of this type of beauty pageant in Ireland."

The Bracken Court Hotel in Balbriggan said Texan organisers did not inform them of the true nature of the event.

It is now unclear whether the pageant may still go ahead in another hotel.