A BIRMINGHAM-born woman will represent Germany in this year’s Rose of Tralee Festival.
Róisín O’Mahony, 22, was chosen from seven hopefuls as the German Rose in last month’s selection in Frankfurt and will travel to Portlaoise for the Regional Festival from May 27-31.
Born in Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, before being raised in Dublin, Róisín still maintains strong connections to the Midlands, with her grandmother Mary residing in the Chelmsley Wood area.
The self-confessed “obsessed” Aston Villa fan has since moved to Berlin, where she has lived with friends and worked in a multilingual kindergarten since January 2014.
Claiming she is “honoured” by her recent selection, the Tralee hopeful said: “I am lucky to call the amazing and diverse city of Berlin my home and even luckier to be the Germany Rose.”
Despite living across the continent, over the years sports-lover Róisín has travelled across Europe and attended over 200 soccer games with her father Alex – who works as a primary school teacher in Dublin’s Ballymun.
She has also kept in touch with her Irish roots by attending a local Gaelscoileanna (Irish language school), and by pursuing her love of Gaelic football and Camogie with German club Setanta Berlin.
The Germany Rose intends to undertake charity work later this year, with a planned visit to Columbia, where she will work in an orphanage in conjunction with the volunteer-abroad organisation IVHQ.
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