Rose of Tralee winner Róisín Wiley has hit back at claims the pageant is “outdated”.
The New York Rose was announced as the winner of the coveted title on Tuesday night, in a ceremony hosted by Kathryn Thomas and Dáithí Ó Sé.
The 27-year-old was one of 32 contestants who made it to the final, representing the Irish diaspora worldwide – including Ireland, Britain, United States, Canada, Australia and the Middle East.
While there’s still a lot of buzz around the Rose of Tralee, the festival has come under fire in recent years as critics have called for more diversity and inclusion within the contest.
The pageant itself, which dates back to 1959, has been branded “outdated” and “anti-feminist”.
But speaking to Independent.ie, the New York Rose insisted there’s “nothing outdated” about “celebrating women and Irish culture and what makes us beautiful and different”.
“I have never felt more beautiful and strong in myself, and I think the 31 other women would say the same thing,” she said.
“It’s not because of the way we look or the way we dress, it’s because of the support that we’ve given one another. Nothing about that to me is outdated.”
“When you look at the 31 other girls and everything that we’ve brought to the table and the experiences that we’ve brought, there is such beauty in the different things we have each brought to the festival. I do believe it represents modern Irish women.”
Róisín lives in Manhattan, and works as a VP of National Sales at a consumer marketing company, managing a territory of OTC and Pharmaceutical accounts.
With her parents hailing from Limerick, Róisín grew up in an “extremely Irish community” in Westchester, and made annual visits back to Ireland.
Revealing her family’s reaction to her winning the Rose of Tralee, she said: “We look at each other and we’re shaking our heads like we can’t believe it – that this next year is coming ahead of us.”
“It’s a big thing for my family, not just for me, and we’re all just so excited.”
