Luxembourg Rose scoops the Rose of Tralee crown with three kisses x x x
Representing Luxembourg Nicola McEvoy after she was announced the 2012 International Rose of Tralee last night.
The 26-year-old Luxembourg Rose Nicola McEvoy was crowned the 2012 Rose of Tralee. The previous night she’d greeted Dáithí Ó Sé with three continental kisses (“I’m not sure the wife liked that one!”) and sang a spirited version of La Vie en Rose.
Born and raised in Cork, McEvoy teaches history, human science and geography at the European School of Luxembourg and has wanted to teach, she told Dáithí, since setting some difficult exams for her teddy bears as a child.
Her prizes include a shiny Philip Treacy-designed tiara, a sash, jewellery, personalised cutlery, a car, a €25,000 tour of the world and an adventure break in Kerry (the latter gets as much space in the festival brochure as the tour of the world). She will represent Tralee and Ireland worldwide, and will, as I understand it, have the power to dissolve the Dáil, veto legislation and execute law breakers.
Okay, I may be getting a little caught up in the local enthusiasm. It’s hard to remain objective after three days watching charming, poised Roses constantly smiling, signing autographs and waving a special kind of wave that seems to require an extra joint in the wrist. The announcement of the winner concludes another night of televised knee-slapping helmed by Dáithí Ó Sé, a man who could, if he wanted to, annex Tralee and rename it Dáithí Ó Sé (his contract for the show is due for renewal, so he may well do this as a bargaining tactic).
After the previous evening’s bovine disappointment (the Ottawa Rose was meant to help Dáithí milk a cow, but the cow was “too lively”) no animal-related stunts were planned, but at one point Dáithí donned a pair of stilettos and flounced about like a bullock in spats (“We got the high heels in Ms Fantasia in Dublin!” he told me earlier. “They were the only shop that had my size!”). He did this to surprise Denver Rose Tiffany Antikainen who learned to wear high heels for this very competition.
Antikainen responded to this disturbing spectacle in the only way she knew how: by playing the bagpipes (At the rehearsal Dáithí wore the high heels for so long a suspicious Rose concluded: “He’s done this before”). There was also set dancing from Tyrone’s Catherine Sherry, wacky sorcery (a card trick) from South Australian Rose Sarah Doherty, an uncomfortable moment where Dáithí tried to engineer a proposal from the Waterford Rose’s boyfriend (he’s like a big rampaging cupid), and four bearded Roses playing indie music (apparently this was actually Dublin band The Coronas). Before the night was out, plucky Roses had recited poetry, explained nano-science and performed back-bending gymnastics, while overheated people in suits and evening dresses waved home-made banners and cheered.
This all seems completely normal to me now. I’ve been at the Dome in Tralee for several days and can’t really recall my life before. That said, I can dimly recall that some outside the Dome view the festival as a reactionary anachronism at worst and a silly lovely girls competition at best.
This feels like something that needs to be addressed. Yes, “Lovely” is one of the most commonly used words at the festival (“isn’t that a lovely dress” “the other Roses are so lovely”). The word is, after all, featured in the 19th century ballad that gives this 1950s competition its name (“she was lovely and fair as the Rose of the summer”). So the focus on the Roses’ physical appearance is hard to escape.
“I’ll have the Ottawa Rose please!” says one wag pointing at her picture in the brochure.
“You can’t order take-out!” scolds an organiser. “It’s not a menu.” Indeed, the original ballad also sees the writer declare that beauty isn’t enough. It wasn’t her loveliness but “the truth in her eyes ever dawning, that made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee,” he wrote, a bit defensively (it sounds like a 19th century version of “I love you for your mind, baby”).
The selection panels and judges have always tried to focus on this “truth ever dawning” bit of the song, which they nowadays seem to associate with cosmopolitan life-experience, an uncontroversial social conscience and incredible levels of educational achievement. Dublin Rose and PhD researcher Arlene O’Neill, for example, is at the forefront of new developments in nanoscience. As a gift for Dáithí she used a special ion-firing microscope to engrave the names of 500 GAA medal winners on a Rose of Tralee pin.
“I’m a proud scientist and I proudly wear my lab coat, goggles and gloves,” she told me earlier. “I’d love to excite children about science… and to encourage more women out there to consider going into science.” O’Neill is, in fact, working on the technology that will soon be used to make futuristic televisions on which futuristic generations will watch futuristic Roses of Tralee. But the Dome was also filled with older notions of community, tradition and parental pride. Bernadette Ryan, the mother of Cork Rose Brid Ryan, is delighted with her daughter win or lose. “I’m so proud of her,” she said. “As a parent you look at your daughter up there and think ‘have I done something right?’”
Sean Quinn’s family ‘willing to meet journalists’ to clarify their position with the banks
Sean Quinn’s daughter Aoife (above) and with her father Sean at her wedding has said they are willing to meet any journalist to clarify their position.
She called in to Newstalk during a Right Hook interview with Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole.
The children of bankrupt businessman Sean Quinn last Friday condemned moves by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) to liquidate the Quinn Group.
The bankrupt businessman is locked in a legal dispute with the former Anglo Irish Bank over debts of over €2 billion.
It is reported that the receiver has taken steps to wind-up the company meaning the Quinn Group Limited will cease to exist.
In a statement last week Colette, Ciara, Aoife and Brenda Quinn claimed the move was part of a “calculated and sinister plan” to ensure they would not be in a position to regain control of their businesses.
The Quinn’s are challenging the legality of the takeover of the Quinn Group by the former Anglo Irish Bank.
Speaking on The Right Hook here on Newstalk Aoife Quinn disputed claims by journalist Fintan O’Toole over his claims of an interview.
Acupuncture to relieve pain and cheaper alternative to knee surgery
Acupuncture can relieve the pain of knee osteoarthritis and even offer a low cost alternative to surgery for the condition, according to new research in the UK.
A study was carried out on 90 patients with knee osteoarthritis, who underwent group acupuncture in two knee pain clinics in Hertfordshire in 2008.
The study participants, whose average age was 71, were monitored for two years.
The clinics were run in two GP practices by specially trained acupuncture nurses, to see whether this could improve care while reducing costs, and offer a viable alternative to referrals for expensive knee replacement surgery.
According to the experts, this type of surgery works well, and provides value for money. But it is not suitable for everyone, and as many as one in seven patients experience severe pain a few years after the procedure.
It also costs almost €6500 per operation, and knee osteoarthritis is common, causing significant pain in 17% of the UK population over the age of 50.
All the patients referred to the clinics had severe symptoms – constant pain, including at night, and inability to walk far – and would have been eligible for surgery.
Fifty patients said they would be prepared to have surgery; four said they would only have the operation as a last resort; and 29 said they did not want surgery.
They were given acupuncture once a week for a month after which the frequency was reduced to a session every six weeks.
Forty-one patients were still attending the clinics after a year, and 31 were still receiving treatment after two years. Each patient received an average of 16.5 treatments.
After one month of treatment, doctors measured symptom control, functional capacity, and wellbeing in the patients and discovered clinically significant improvements in pain levels, stiffness, and functional capacity.
These improvements continued throughout the two-year monitoring period, as assessed by a validated scoring system (MYMOP) at six monthly intervals.
Based on the assumption that only two thirds of patients would take up an offer of acupuncture, the authors calculate that the health service could over €100,000 a year.
Galway Turf cutters vow to continue fight until neighbours have fuel for winter
The turf cutters of Co Galway have vowed to continue to cut turf until everyone in their area without fuel is supplied, after they returned to Clonmoylan bog yesterday and defied an EU directive not to cut turf there.
Between 50 and 60 locals restarted their turf cutting yesterday morning as they claim “six or seven” local families do not have sufficient fuel to last the winter.
Already, enough turf for four or five of those families has been cut, and, according to Dermot Moran, spokesman for the Barroughter and Clonmoylan Bog Action Group, they will be back at the first chance to cut the remainder.
“As this week is heritage week, we were determined to mark our heritage by cutting this turf,” said Mr Moran.
Clonmoylan bog in south Galway, near the town of Woodford, is one of 53 raised bogs that was designated for protection under the EU habitats directive.
Already, more than 1,000 turf cutters nationwide have received compensation for the loss of their turf-cutting rights, but the Clonmoylan natives insist they are not breaking any laws.
Members of the Barroughter and Clonmoylan Bog Action Group were involved in an 18-hour stand-off with gardaí and the National Parks and Wildlife Services two months ago after a row over the seizure of turf-cutting machinery on the site.
A Garda spokesperson confirmed they are investigating reports of illegal turf cutting in the area.
University presidents advise Ruairi Quinn on new points system
The leaving cert exam and the CAO points system do not promote positive education values or personal development, university presidents have advised Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.
In a report presented to the Minister yesterday, they argue the selection process for higher education is having “disproportionate and undesirable effects on student learning at second level”.
The presidents back a new ranking system for Leaving Cert scores, more common entry routes into college, a reduction in Leaving Cert grades and new efforts to “incentivise strategically important subjects”. However, they stress there is no perfect system and no perfect solution.
A taskforce chaired by NUI president Dr Philip Nolan will examine the proposals and report back before the end of the year.
“We do not wish to be prescriptive in regard to the issues to be addressed by the task force,” the report says. It backs away from awarding CAO points for absolute scores in the Leaving Cert and focusing on the relative performance in the subject. Essentially, it says, the highest points would be awarded to the students who perform best relative to their peers in the specific subject.
“The most obvious way to convert merit ranking into points is to use percentiles, with those in the top 1 per cent getting 100 points, those in the next 1 per cent getting 99 points and so on, with those in the bottom 1 per cent getting one point,” the report says.
“An advantage of this option is that it is independent of subject workload, marking differences, grade distribution etc. It could therefore be considered a fairer system of rewarding student effort and performance. It could incentivise students to take what are currently regarded as the ‘harder’ subjects.”
Other recommendations are:
* Wider availability of common entry courses to take some of the “heat” out of the points race: The heads acknowledge much of the pressure on points arises from those courses where places are most limited and points are highest.
* Incentivisation of strategically important subjects: With the exception of bonus points for maths, all subjects are currently treated equally for points purposes. There is scope to change this approach to create further incentives for students to study specific prioritised subjects.
* Revised Leaving Cert assessment methodologies: This, the report says, is a priority issue that will be addressed by the taskforce.
* More graduate-entry only for certain professional courses: These are the courses for which the competition is greatest and therefore have the highest points.
* Review of the timing of the Leaving results: Current arrangements, it says, allow little flexibility for learners, guidance counsellors or providers to ensure that final choices made by learners regarding post-secondary options are made based on the most complete information possible, including Leaving Cert results. This could ensure that students progress efficiently to their most suitable option, and that this transition is made in a way which enhances the learner’s chances of success.
* Introduction of a maths and Irish examination for matriculation purposes at end of fifth year: While bonus points for maths have assisted in addressing the issue of students dropping back from the honours course to the ordinary, there is potential to use additional approaches to address this phenomenon.
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