This year's Rose of Tralee escorts will be mostly wearing pinstripes. That's if the hopefuls waiting to be auditioned in Dublin's Gresham Hotel this week were anything to go by. Like patients in a dentist's surgery, they sat scrubbed, suited and spiky of hair waiting to convince judges to send them to Tralee, where their duties could include anything from fetching cough medicine for Roses in the middle of the night to fending off their jealous boyfriends, writes Róisín Ingle
The Rose of Tralee festival may have been in financial difficulty but that hasn't stemmed interest from men wanting to take part in Ireland's most talked-about "lovely girl" contest. The annual competition to find escorts for the 28 Roses took place this week with organisers reporting twice as many entrants as last year. More than 400 applications were received, each containing carefully worded answers to vital questions such as "Can you waltz?" and "Will you be able to handle the media intrusion?".
The Irish Times tried not to be too intrusive while trying to find out what appealed to Fir na hÉireann about being an escort. Conor Sheahan, a farmer from Millstreet, Co Cork said: "A friend was an escort last year and I saw what great craic he had, so I thought I would have a go. It's just something different, I think every county in Ireland should have a festival like the Rose of Tralee". Revealing that his Mammy had cleaned his suit for him, he said he was definitely not a New Man. "I am a typical Irish bachelor with a great life living at home. Why would I change it?" the 27-year-old wanted to know.
Like many potential escorts, Philip O'Connor from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, described the experience of being whittled down from 400 applicants to 60 as a "huge confidence boost". "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a chance to meet new and exciting people, both the escorts and the Roses. The festival is an integral part of our culture so I would see it as a great honour," he said. An "independent man" with his own apartment, car and job, he agreed that he was definitely a bit of a catch. He said his interview went fine - the only question that threw him was what he would do about a Rose's jealous boyfriend. "I said I would talk to the Rose but that she should have really sorted all that out before the contest," he said.
At 22, baby-faced Donal Spillane from Macroom, Co Cork, was one of the youngest applicants to be interviewed. "The mother said I should apply," he confided, looking dapper in his three-piece suit. "She helped me with the application." What would make him a good escort? "I would be able to show them a good time and make sure they don't have to worry about anything," he said. "I think the festival is great. It puts Ireland and Kerry on the map." He grew up watching the competition on the television. "It was a really big thing every year. When I was younger it would be 'sit there and watch that and don't move'," the nursing home assistant recalled.
As the applicants waited nervously to see the judges, PR woman Avril Collins was making sure everything ran smoothly. "The escorts could be asked to do anything from going out for a pair of tights to finding hair clips. There is definitely a lot of running around after the Roses," she said. "It's kind of an invisible but integral role. It's not called the escort of Tralee festival, it's the Rose of Tralee festival. This is the Roses' chance to shine and the escorts help them do that".
"They were all so polite and mannerly," said judge Rhona Bradshaw, from festival sponsors Smart Telecom, when the last of the men had left the Gresham Hotel. "They are not interested in finding a girlfriend, they just want to play the role of escort, and they appreciate the responsibility involved in that."
She had been to the festival three times and said it was much more than people would expect from just watching the two nights of judging on television. "So much more goes on in Tralee during that week. It's a festival that hasn't been touched by modernity but features real 21st-century girls," says Bradshaw.
Not forgetting the real 21st-century boys. And, of course, their Mammies.
The 46th Rose of Tralee festival starts on August 20th www.roseoftralee.ie