‘Miss Ireland was expensive – I went to Kosovo twice to get the right dress’

I was the first person in my family to be college educated. My grandad was a big influence and instilled in me the importance of education. My family owns four or five restaurants (including Rudy’s and Maximilians Bistro in Blanchardstown)and I learned that you have to work hard to get on in life.

When I was in school I worked part-time behind the bar and then went to law school and abroad to study. No. It is very expensive.

There’s so much you need behind the scenes, like coaching, dresses, and the money to throw fundraising events. It’s a costly vocation and passion. When I won, it was my third time competing and at that stage, my parents said, “that’s the last time” – I was dragging them halfway across the world to get dresses! We went to Kosovo twice to get my Miss Ireland dress.

I’ve really studied pageants for many years and I looked at what other girls from other countries were doing at Miss Ireland and Miss Universe and many were buying dresses in Kosovo and Albania because the dresses there are stunning. Dubai. But when you work hard in life, you deserve to enjoy yourself because you’re making memories.

I was fortunate to have a really good job in Dubai, but for tourists it’s expensive because it has a lot of elite restaurants and hotels that we wouldn’t have in Ireland. I’m a serious shoe collector – I love Jimmy Choo and Tom Ford. Some of my pageant dresses are very expensive as well.

I hired a pageant coach called Nia Sanchez, a former Mi.