Offaly Rose Emma makes it to The Dome!

There was Offaly good news this morning for Emma Kirwan who will be the first Rose to represent her county in the Dome during the televised stages of the Rose of Tralee.
Emma (18) was one of the 32 Roses selected to join Dáithí Ó Sé on stage live on RTÉ 1 on Monday and Tuesday night and the news came a few days after she passed her Leaving Cert.
She will take to the stage tomorrow evening, alongside Roses from Melbourne, Kerry, Texas, Philadelphia, Galway, Chicago, Wicklow, Ohio, Longford, North Carolina, London, New Zealand and South Australia.
This evening Roses from Kilkenny, New Orleans, Cavan, Kentucky, Monaghan, South Carolina, Ottawa, Germany, Cork, Abu Dhabi, Kildare, Queensland, Louth, Sydney, Scotland, Newcastle/Gateshead, Newfoundland & Labrador and Roscommon will be interviewed on stage in The Dome.
Sixty-five Roses began their journey to Tralee on Friday, August 12, and over the past eleven days, they have all enjoyed every aspect of the annual Rose Tour of Ireland and the Festival in Tralee.
The Executive Chair of the Rose of Tralee International Festival, Anthony O’Gara, said: “RTE can only accommodate 32 Roses on Live TV which is why we needed to stage a qualifying phase during the first few days of the Festival. Every Rose has enjoyed the full festival experience by traveling on the pre-Festival Tour of Ireland before taking part in the parades, attend the Rose Ball and the various Festival functions in Tralee. I wish to thank our two judging panels who, as always, had a difficult task to select the final 32 Roses for TV. Ultimately, there can only be one Rose of Tralee and each of our 65 Roses are looking forward to finding out who that will be.”
A new Judging panel of six people, Chaired by RTÉ Presenter Mary Kennedy, will engage with 32 Roses over the coming three days, while all 65 Roses will continue to participate in Festival events in Tralee.
Such is the continued success of the Rose of Tralee on TV, RTÉ are introducing a third Rose of Tralee TV programme from this year onwards - The Road to the Dome will be aired on RTÉ One at 6.30pm on Monday, August 22.
The 2016 Rose of Tralee will be crowned live on RTÉ One at around 11pm on Tuesday, August 23.
Full details on this year’s Rose of Tralee International Festival are available from www.roseoftralee.ie.