Winner of 2018 Rose of Tralee would not enter competition now due to amount of racist opinion

In 2018, Kirsten Mate Maher was the first African-Irish entrant to win the competition and was the third mixed race winner when she represented Waterford in Tralee. File photo: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD

A former winner of the Rose of Tralee has admitted she does not believe she would have entered the competition now given the level of racist sentiment and anti-diversity commentary in Irish society now.

Kirsten Mate Maher's comments came as the latest statistics from gardaí show a record number of hate crimes and hate-related incidents reported to the force with anti-race and anti-nationality recorded as the predominant motivating factors.

Ms Mate Maher won the competition in 2018. She was the first African-Irish entrant to win the competition and was the third mixed race winner when she represented Waterford in Tralee.

The 2018 winner of the Rose of Tralee title does not believe she would have entered the competition now because of racist sentiment and anti-diversity commentary.

“I had things said about me and I actually didn’t look online at all because I couldn’t bear it," she told the Irish Examiner. "Now if 20-year-old me saw what was happening now, I don’t know if I would be able to do it. 

"You see a lot that it (the contest) is not diverse enough. Those (diverse) women are hiding. They are hiding because of the public scrutiny that all of those other brave women are being put under. Why would they want to put themselves forward?”

She urged the public watching the interviews to make the contest “an open and safe place for them” by not attacking them on social media.

Earlier this year, the selection of Sligo-born medical scientist Suad Mooge as the Dublin Rose for the contest resulted in racist commentary online. Ms Mooge spoke out about the online abuse on RTÉ’s Liveline, saying comments claimed she is not Irish, while other comments were made about her skin tone and religion.

Ms Mate Maher said: “If you really want to see Roses from different communities, then make it an open and safe place for them. Right now, it’s not. And that’s not the Rose of Tralee’s fault — this is the public’s fault and the media narrative.

"This is the one stage women can walk on and actually be themselves. They don’t have to have a degree, they don’t need to have to have anything done. You can walk out of secondary school and actually be a Rose.” 

She said women are already being scrutinised enough in society, adding: “If a woman has decided to put themselves forward to speak about themselves and have an opportunity for the world to see who they really are, why should she be scrutinised so badly that it would affect her mental health?

“You just need to show up (as a Rose) as yourself. Many people are closing it off and making it completely non-accessible to people — anytime there is a Rose that might be different or stand out, they get scrutinised. I got it a lot with a narrative being pushed about a diverse Ireland and it was hard to deal with it.” 

Let’s make a place where it is safe for a woman to put herself out there. 

This year’s Rose of Tralee selection will take place on Tuesday night after two nights of televised interviews with Dáithí Ó Sé and Kathryn Thomas.

The winner will take over the mantle from last year’s Laois Rose, Katelyn Cummins.