Miss Ireland 2008, Sinéad NoonanMiss Ireland 2007, Blathnaid McKenna
History
The first winner of Miss Ireland was Violet Nolan in 1947.[1] The next winner, Eithne Dunne, came 5 years later in 1952.[1] Thereafter there has been a winner every year except 2020, when the competition was cancelled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2012 the winner Marie Hughes, representing County Mayo, was stripped of her title when it was discovered that she was "too old", as she was aged 25 and would have been 26 at the time of the Miss World competition. She was replaced by the runner-up, Rebecca Maguire, aged 20.[2]
In 2021, following the cancellation of the competition the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pamela Uba became the first black woman to win the Miss Ireland title.[3]
^ abO' Regan, Mark (2 May 2012). "Tantrums and tiaras as Miss Ireland stripped of title for being too old at 25 to be beauty queen". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 October 2021. JUST days after she was handed her Miss Ireland crown, Marie Hughes has been dethroned after it emerged she was too old to enter the beauty competition. Miss Hughes was officially stripped of her title on Sunday after organisers inadvertently discovered during a routine conversation that she is 25 -- and not 21 as originally believed. ... The surprise news has paved the way for the competition's first runner-up, brunette Rebecca Maguire (20), to represent Ireland in China in four months.
