The Dublin Rose of Tralee, Suad Mooge, said she will not be deterred from participating in the festival by the racial abuse she has received.
Mooge (25), a medical scientist in histology, was chosen last week to represent Dublin at the festival in Tralee in August. She is also a youth leader with Sport Against Racism Ireland.
Mooge, who was born and raised in Ireland, said she expected racial abuse after her win, but the extent of it has surprised her.
“It hasn’t really fazed me much as a person of colour growing up in Ireland,” she told RTÉ’s Liveline programme.
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“It is nothing that I haven’t heard before. I was definitely not shocked, but I was more so surprised at the volume of hate which is coming out. It has been constant since [the result] was posted.”
Mooge is of Somalian heritage but was born in Sligo and brought up in Dublin.
The Rose of Tralee stipulates those who have Irish ancestry or are Irish citizens can enter the competition.
You don’t have to have Irish heritage to participate in the competition, but Mooge said many people online assumed she was ineligible for the competition.
“If you read my bio, you’ll see I was born and raised in Ireland,” she said.
“I take pride in going forward for things like this, considering the reaction I have received. Change is needed and I’m just grateful to be given the opportunity to be at the forefront of this to show girls like me that they can go for this.
“I was raised by a strong household of women and I’m not one to allow other people’s opinions to faze me. I know I’m Irish. I don’t have to prove to anybody how Irish I am. I am very confident and very secure in that fact.
“It’s a very small group of people who have been very loud, but I have got a lot of positive feedback from people.”
Mooge said there was some 4,000 posts on X, most of them hostile to her win, but said she was not on X.
[ Quiet desperation: Why no one speaks up about racism in IrelandOpens in new window ]
She turned off her TikTok notifications because they were “relentless – I’m reading it and paying no mind to it”.
However, she also stressed that some people on X, Instagram and TikTok have been vocal in their support for her.
The 2026 Rose of Tralee International Festival takes place between August 14th and 18th.
