An interview with the Waterford Rose: “It was a dream of mine always and I still can’t believe it”
Cara Comerford is the 2026 Waterford Rose. Photo: Adam Czubak
Waterford Rose, Cara Comerford is twenty one and in her third year of Biomedical Engineering in MTU.
She started her course in 2023 and hopes to graduate next year.
She’s not sure if she’s going to do a master’s.
She told the , “we’ll see how things play out”.
At the moment, she is on work placement at Stryker Neurovascular, where she works on stroke treatment, brain aneurysm treatment, and other medical treatment devices.
She finds the work, “very interesting”.
“I was quite good at maths in school and I also kind of had a flair for design as well so I thought biomedical engineering was a bit of both, you have science, designing and maths.
“It's quite a rewarding job because when I go into work, I come out and I feel I’m bettering someone’s life every day knowing the medical device will eventually reach a patient.”
Cara went to St Declan’s Community College in Kilmacthomas. She said: “It’s a lovely school out there.”
Originally from Portlaw, Cara said that the village hasn’t “had good news in a while and I feel it brought a lift to the community. Everywhere we go, my mam, my dad, even my grandad, they’re getting stopped, people are just so happy. It's such a boost for the community, it will be really good for Portlaw itself and everyone is so excited.”
Cara told the that she believes people not from Waterford, “don’t appreciate it for what it is."
She continued: "I feel proud to be from Waterford. We’re so lucky, we have a beach, a city and kind of an airport. I love the scenic spots in Waterford.”
If she could change one thing about her home county, it would be “the weather.”
She has “always had an interest” in the competition. “We grew up watching it in our house religiously.” Cara's grandmother was the Kerry Rose in 1967, and recalling how she felt about it, she said: “She loved it. She spoke so fondly of it.”
Cara spoke fondly of watching the Rose of Tralee every year growing up.
“I thought all the women in it were amazing and I thought someday maybe I’d like to do it but you’re never going to have the confidence to apply," she said.
"So I just said I’d do it now because Waterford is not going to have another rose until 2028 and I’ll hopefully be finished college by then," she added.
"I just felt in my life right now it’s a good time to go for it while I’m on placement, and I didn’t expect to get through anyways."
“It was a dream of mine always and I still can’t believe it. I’m so grateful," said Cara.
While Cara hopes to help any charities “that she can do something for" she said that in particular, she wants to organise something for the palliative care centre in University Hospital Waterford.
“I know its close to everyone’s heart and the staff in there are wonderful," she said.
She added that she would like to “give back” to the pallative care department.
“My nanny, who passed in October, they looked after her so well," she said.
Cara said she is most excited for the round Ireland bus tour that takes place the week before the Rose of Tralee festival.
“I can’t wait to meet all of the other thirty-one roses, make friends for life and have the craic with them," she said.
“I was anxious going in, fear of the unknown: I didn’t know what to expect. The nerves left my body. When we walked into The Reg for the cocktail-making class, that was when I met the girls initially and everyone was in the same boat," she added.
"We were so jittery and excited and we got to know each other straight away. Even on the selection night, we all felt the same way and I didn’t feel one bit intimidated, the girls are so lovely.”
Cara said she didn’t really know what to expect from the Rose of Tralee Competition.
She was surprised by the various meet-ups in the run up to the selection night which took place in the Tower Hotel in early March.
The contestants did a cocktail-making class, went to the Kilcohan dog track for the day and did a gym class together.
“I thought it would just be the interview," she said.
She was surprised by how enjoyable the selection process was.
She also spoke highly of her fellow contestants saying: “All of the girls were so interesting, I felt so proud watching them.”
Cara seemed at ease on stage during the selection night and explained to the “I was used to the stage from a young age from Irish dancing.”
She danced on stage in front of a “couple of thousand people” when she performed at the Irish Dancing World Championships.
She first performed at the age of nine and she won her first medal when she was eleven. The championship is held in Killarney each year.
Cara was taught Irish dancing at the Mulcahy Bible dancing school and Betty Bible actually attended the selection event at the Tower Hotel to support her former student.
Irish dancing has “definitely” improved her confidence.
“When I was walking up to the stage, I might not have looked it but I was so nervous and then as soon as I got onto the stage, I felt comfortable because it was familiar – that was because of dancing," she said.
She also told the that she was more nervous for the Waterford selection night than she is for the Rose of Tralee competition in August.
“Now that I’ve had that experience of doing an interview and meeting the other girls, it's just like ‘yay, I get to do it all again.’”
