Sydney's 'Rose of Tralee' shakes up Irish pageant with abortion rights speech

For almost six decades the Rose of Tralee – a pageant “which brings young women of Irish descent from around the world to County Kerry, Ireland for a global celebration of Irish culture” – has managed to avoid anything more political than expressing a desire to help the less well off.

That cozy consensus changed this week, when the Sydney entrant to the competition, Brianna Parkins, told presenter Dáithí Ó Sé, live on television: “I think we can do better here in Ireland. I think it is time to give women a say on their own reproductive rights. I would love to see a referendum on the eighth coming up soon. That would be my dream.”

Parkins was referring to the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution, passed in 1983, which guarantees the “right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

Parkins, who works with the ABC in Sydney, later posted a picture of herself wearing a ‘Repeal the Eighth’ T-shirt while giving the thumbs up on her Twitter page.

“It seemed natural to talk about it as a women’s rights campaigner,” she said. “It’s a big issue affecting Irish women and I hate seeing Irish women having to travel to England on one of the worst days of their lives. I think it’s really unfair.

“I was really surprised by the reaction. I thought there would be dead silence in the Dome (where the pageant is held), but there was applause. I couldn’t believe it.”

Graham Linehan, co-creator of the Father Ted TV show which in one episode featured a festival called Lovely Girls which lampooned the Rose of Tralee, tweeted his support of Parkins. “Boom, the Lovely Girls competition gets real ... the round of applause at the end was a beautiful thing too.”

In an article in the Irish Times on Saturday Parkins says the pageant seemed like “a great big Kate Middleton impersonation contest” but participants were “asked about abortion in group interviews, and between photo ops and sash adjustments”.

She says she was furious at how the event was run and how the contestants were treated as if they were on a reality TV show. “I’m angry when I take to the stage on Monday night. I’ve spent months defending the festival, convincing my boss, family and friends that this is an event that respects and celebrates women.”

But Parkins was astonished at the reaction to her comments made in live coverage of the event on RTE television. “I come off stage sweating in my puffy rental dress, hoping I’ve kept my legs straight and my hips back.” But then a fellow contestant told her to check Twitter.

“I don’t know why a girl in a ball gown and sash repeating the same thing that Ireland’s women’s-rights campaigners have been saying for decades has made such an impact. But the threats come quickly,” she says.

The Rose of Tralee’s media manager told Parkins she had “let him down”, but “he listens to me respectfully and tells me he won’t gag me or punish me”.

At a midnight parade Parkins told the other contestants on the float to stand away from her, thinking something might be thrown at her. “But I’m greeted by mothers wanting to get selfies with their daughters and a ‘Thank you Sydney rose’ banner. I cry for the first time in years. Loudly and unattractively.”

Despite her experience, Parkins says “I stand by the festival, but I believe it’s time for it to change. If it doesn’t accept that women who enter will want to have political opinions then it risks being on the wrong side of history.”