THE Treaty County’s newest Miss Limerick is hoping that she can use her platform to raise awareness of type one diabetes.
Alicia O’Callaghan, a nursing student from Ballingarry, was crowned Miss Limerick in August, and will now go on to the national final in Dublin where she’ll vie for the coveted title of Miss Ireland.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Alicia said that she initially applied to the competition as a way of improving her confidence.
“It’s an amazing experience, it’s helped me come out of myself with confidence, it’s also helped me being confident with type one diabetes,” Alicia explained.
Diagnosed when she was eight, Alicia said that she has struggled with confidence around her illness, and she hopes her competing in the Miss Ireland competition will show people that they can do anything they put their mind to, regardless of the struggles they may face.
“I’ve always been kind of conscious about my diabetes, with either giving myself injections in public or wearing an insulin pump or something that would check my blood sugars for me, but having this experience now has made me come out of my shell and I’m not as embarrassed anymore, I’ve learned how to wear it, basically,” the Ballingarry native said.
“I wouldn’t ever have thought that I’d have made it this far.”
While Miss Ireland is a beauty pageant in the traditional sense, the competition also involves charity work, with Alicia saying she plans to organise a fundraiser for Diabetes Ireland.
“I’m trying to raise money for Diabetes Ireland, so I’m trying to see what I can organise what kind of event I could do.”
Before deciding to study nursing, Alicia had another career path in mind before she realised it wasn’t for her.
“I thought I wanted to do law and realised it wasn’t really the path I wanted to go down so I took two years out and worked three jobs.”
“I was working in a medical centre, I’m also a DJ so I was doing that on the weekends, and I was a supervisor for a nightclub, but I had to give all that up when I went back to college,” she explained.
Alicia says the support from her local area has been “astounding” and that she is proud to represent Ballingarry on the national stage.
Alicia will officially represent Limerick at the national Miss Ireland final in Dublin in November.
