Rose of Tralee

Órla Tobin Fitzgerald became Rose of Tralee in 2003 representing Dublin, and was the fifth Dublin Rose to win the title

I am a Portfolio Manager in Bank of Ireland Private Banking. I have been with the Bank of Ireland group for nearly eight years now and they were extremely supportive to me during my reign as Rose of Tralee.

August 2009

I was ambassador for UNICEF Ireland for my year as Rose of Tralee and was then elected to join the board of UNICEF Ireland where I helped with entertainment/events.

In 2007 I was asked to sing in Charity You’re a Star with two fellow Roses - Orla O’Shea and Róisin Egenton. We were called “The Roses”… no surprise there! I had a fantastic time over the two weeks and we made it through seven shows before we were knocked out. We also raised a tidy sum of money for The Irish Heart Foundation. We had a good few laughs doing it too.

Following this, I was asked to present Greyhound View which aired on TG4 and Sky Sports Xtra. I enjoyed doing this for nearly a year and have taken time out of presenting over the last year to get married to my gorgeous husband, Davie Fitzpatrick (Davie was there to witness my Rose reign six years ago) and to have our first baby – a little girl, Ella. I will be the luckiest mom in the world when I am in Tralee and hopefully over the sleepless nights too!

My mom is from Duagh Village near Listowel in Co Kerry. As a family, we spent a lot of time in Kerry as children. My nana always said she would love to see one of us as a Rose as it was close to her heart too. I am so grateful that she lived to see me do that for her.

Memories: gosh, where to begin and where to end … I have so many! If I had to name two they would be as follows: 1) My family’s reaction, especially my nana’s and my aunt Helen’s. They were all so proud! 2) Travelling to Yemen representing UNICEF in a bid to build awareness around girls’ education over there.

I am currently in my fourth and final year of  my Business and Management Degree in UCD and that’s keeping me very busy, but I am delighted that I went back to do my degree as I always knew I would. I am very grateful that I got to experience being a Rose of Tralee. It is something I will always have and it’s something I will tell my children and grandchildren about in the future.