Tonight marks the start of  the 60th Rose of Tralee,  a festival and competition that aims to connect the global Irish community through tradition and modernisation. 

1 million people will tune in to RTE One AND the Rose Of Tralee will trend on Twitter as Hashtag ROT. 

There are some who love the show, there are others who don’t have strong feelings one way or the other and there are those who dismiss it as an outdated “lovely girls” competition that has no place in a modern society. 

For them it should end immediately, but I suspect it could run for another 60 years.

To get the lowdown on this year’s event Henry McKean - the Newstalk Rose - joins us live from Tralee