Clodagh Finn: It’s not the Hunger Games, it’s not Miss America — it’s our weird, beloved Rose of Tralee

Tralee native Clodagh Finn reflects on the contradictions, criticisms and quiet joys of Ireland’s most divisive cultural celebration

New Zealand Rose Keely O'Grady was the winner of the 2024 Rose of Tralee. Picture: Domnick Walsh

I can already feel the dread rise up in me as the clock ticks down to another Rose of Tralee festival.

How, in this millennium, can we still have a Lovely Girls contest, to use one of the kinder terms adopted by the sneery naysayers?