Escorts' main job is to act as 'big brothers' to their roses 

Pádraig Mac Suibhne, who is escorting the Louth Rose Justine McGuirk, with David Cronin, who is escorting Galway Rose Deirdre Jennings and Tommy Cunningham, who is escorting Donegal Rose Niamh Shevlin. Picture: Neil Michael

One of the questions that has raised its head when it comes to the men escorting their roses is: what happens if... something happens?

After all, just last Monday, the 2019 Washington DC Rose married her escort, Dubliner Joey McCarthy.

Added to that, just 30km away from Tralee, in Lisselton, is the Co Kerry home to Orla and Liam Walsh.

Liam met Orla Cusack, who was the Waterford Rose in 1998, in 2002 while he was working as a relief escort at the festival and she was visiting with the 1998 Texas Rose.

The couple married just three years later. So, romance does flourish among roses and escorts.

However, when the Irish Examiner popped the question to a random selection of escorts, they were having none of it.

Pádraig Mac Suibhne, who is escort to the Louth Rose Justine McGuirk, said escorts’ main job is to be more “big brothers to the roses”.

The 27-year-old teacher, who is single, said: “We are not essentially here to do anything other than to make sure they have the time of their lives and to give them the best experience in the festival as possible. It is our duty.”

Tommy Cunningham, who is escorting Donegal Rose Niamh Shevlin, agrees.

The 27-year-old is, after all, engaged to be married and his fiancé is attending the festival with him.

He says he got engaged himself at the end of last year’s festival and his husband-to-be is “a big fan of the festival”.

David Cronin, another escort, was quick to point out that both he and the rose he is escorting are “in relationships”.

The 26-year-old, who is escorting Galway Rose Deirdre Jennings, is at the festival with his girlfriend Nicole.

As far as the escorts themselves are concerned, he said that everybody is getting on very well and having an “absolutely fantastic” time.

”It’s a great buzz,” he said.

”The town comes alive and I was in college here for four years and the Rose of Tralee is always a highlight. It has always been on my bucket list.”