Man who stormed Rose of Tralee stage was ticketholder, say organisers

The ABC’s Brianna Parkins, the Sydney entrant to the annual Rose of Tralee festival, used her time on stage to make a statement about repealing the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which criminalises abortion. Their escorts brought either a white or red rose to their room and they were then separated into two groups, one of which was told they were going through to the televised final.

“It’s a natural thing that people will become very disappointed when they don’t progress in the Rose of Tralee”.

‘The #sydneyrose didn’t win but we all know she’s the real victor here, ‘ one woman, Saorise, wrote on Twitter.

Unfortunately the victor of Rose of Tralee was Maggie Rose McEldowney, but Ms Parkins won the hearts of many.

‘I think we can do better here in Ireland, ‘ Brianna stated.

“It’s more of a blur, I don’t have a clue what I said, I can’t really remember”, she explained.

In a post on the Rose of Tralee Facebook page, which has since been deleted, Ms McCormack said neither she nor the other roses signed up “for a cheap reality television show in which our emotions would be manipulated for entertainment purposes”.

She added: “It’s just a shame that television viewing numbers became more important that the truly wonderful girls that got hurt and that now have to deal with the emotional trauma of the whole, quite frankly disgusting and cruel, ordeal”.

“The 65 Roses were aware from the outset that they were being filmed at all stages in the run up to the live television shows”.

‘I’d love to see a referendum on the eighth coming up soon, that’s my dream.

One of the standout moments of this year’s Rose of Tralee festival was the Sydney Rose making a call for a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment.

The viewing figures for the final programme on Tuesday also plummeted to a ten-year low, pulling in an average of 618,000 viewers, compared to 694,000 in 2014.