A TRAFFIC garda has been removed from the Rose of Tralee contest five days after donating her county-title prize of €1,000 to a cancer charity.
Charlene Anderson, the only woman motorcycle garda in Donegal, was unaware that she was too old when she was selected as the county Rose for her native Sligo. When a complaint was made after the event contest organisers realised she was outside the age parameters limiting entries to women aged between 18 and 28.
They must be still under 28 when the international final takes place in the last week of August in Tralee. Garda Anderson, who is attached to the Donegal Garda traffic corps in Letterkenny, was 28 on April 24th, two days before the Sligo decider on April 26th.
She was nominated to go forward to the Irish regional final on the June bank holiday weekend in Portlaoise by a panel of judges that included Senator Marc MacSharry. She donated her winner’s cheque to Shout, the Sligo Hospital Oncology Unit Trust, which funds patient-comfort and cancer research.
Garda Anderson was subsequently advised, however, that she would not go forward to Portlaoise for the next round in which the county winners will be whittled down to nine to compete against 41 others from around the world in the international final in Tralee.
Garda Anderson, who was back on duty on her motorcycle yesterday, said: “It was a genuine misunderstanding.”