Sir, - My bemused incredulity in reaction to particular media treatment of the recent Rose of Tralee "controversy" has turned to barely contained laughter. Are some people really so blinkered and tunnel visioned in their dogged and relentless pursuit to advance the rights of the socially marginalised, that they would alight upon the Festival of Kerry as being a scandalous example of society's shunning of single mothers?
There is no issue here - the Rose of Tralee was never intended nor understood to be a contest for mothers, married or unmarried, no more than the numerous bachelor contests in Ireland are for fathers, married or unmarried. Does the Housewife of the Year contest ban cohabiting, home keeping women? The list of social groups excluded from entering our nation's many festivals and contests is potentially endless!
Festivals have themes, as distinct from rules or laws, that determine which aspiring entrants are eligible and which ones are not. They are run for the purpose of entertainment, be they aimed towards tourists, families, young people or whoever. They are not public forums for the promotion of socio economic equality issues.
One journalist gleefully cornered the unsuspecting festival committee into making a "politically incorrect" statement, and then reaped a harvest of juicy tabloid material for his/her labour - "Rose of Tralee rule bans unmarried mothers"; "virginity tests for entry to Tralee contest?" etc! Such industrious researchers could more gainfully apply their talents to pursuing the very real injustices of social marginalisation - e.g., the pitiful poverty that afflicts many unmarried mothers, their lack of truly equal access to employment etc. These issues are more drastically deserving of the air time and newspaper space that has been wasted on this phoney controversy. - Yours, etc.,
Killeen,
Oakpark,
Tralee
Co Kerry.