Rose of Tralee and ‘lovely girls’

Sir, – Another “Lovely Girl” competition is upon us, and our national broadcaster continues to support a beauty contest.

But it is not a beauty competition, I hear them say. It’s a celebration of womanhood in a modern Ireland.

I’ll believe it when a single mother of three, living in homeless accommodation, and who is adept at getting her children to school, keeping them fed, dressed and entertained, turns up and wins it. – Yours, etc,