Rose of Tralee to remain a singles-only competition, boss says

It seems married women won't be appearing in the Rose of Tralee any time soon, according to the organiser.

The boss of the festival rounded on its critics this week, branding them "faux intellectuals".

Anthony O'Gara, Executive Chairman of the festival, addressed newspaper editors in an open letter saying the contest is not about "colleens on parade" or "flagrant misogyny".

"The Rose of Tralee is one of the most important threads to connect Irish people throughout the world with home and that is a fact for over 55 years," he wrote.

"Please, get over the outdated ‘lovely girls’ joke. We have."

This morning, he said that while participation should be open to many, he believes the core of the competition should be for young, single women.

"I don't have any particular hangups about who we open it up to - but I think you can only go so far. It's been around for 56 years, as a celebration of younger women, and I think that's the way we'll keep it.

"You get a little bit of fun going about escorts and Roses and what they should and shouldn't be, but I think it works well, and obviously we could have a competition involving married women as well, and there's nothing wrong with that - but the rose of Tralee works very, very well."

He said, however, that the age limit of 28 has changed before, and may change again in the future.