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	ORGANISERS behind a contentious American-style child beauty pageant plan to turn it into an annual event in Ireland &ndash; after their first competition went ahead despite public backlash.</h2>
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	The&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1em;">Te</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">xas</span>-based Universal Royalty Beauty Pageant saw 20 toddlers and teens take part in a show held in the beer garden of Corrigan&#39;s Kitchen in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.</p>
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	It was a slimmed down affair after dozens of parents and offspring decided not attend when a hotel in Dublin backed out of staging the event at a late stage.</p>
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	Senator Jillian van Turnhout has said she will now considering tabling legislation to ban such events.</p>
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	&quot;So many people especially parents over the past two days have asked me to see if there is a way to ban them. I&#39;ve worked on many advocacy issues but I&#39;ve never seen this kind of opinion from one perspective,&quot; said the former chief executive of the Children&#39;s Rights Alliance.</p>
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	Universal Royalty boss Annette Hill admitted she made the decision to keep the alternative venue a secret out of fear it would also cancel.</p>
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	Ms Hill insisted that, despite the difficulties and opposition she encountered when staging the event, there was a &quot;wonderful&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1em;">atmosph</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">ere</span>&quot; and she was pleased at how the first-ever Irish show had finished.</p>
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	&quot;Unfortunately we lost about 20 of the participants.</p>
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	&quot;It was brilliant. There was even an 11-year-old boy from Cork taking part and he was absolutely fantastic,&quot; she said.</p>
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	&quot;I&#39;m going to look into holding regional events here in the future in places like Cork, Galway and&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1em;">Belfa</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">st</span>, as well as Dublin. So my plan next year is to have between three and four pageants,&quot; Ms Hill added.</p>
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	Minister for Children&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 1em;">Frances F</span><span style="font-size: 1em;">itzgerald</span>&nbsp;last week called for the event to be banned, and described it as &quot;inappropriate.&quot;</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/plan-for-child-pageant-to-be-held-every-year-29598551.html">http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/plan-for-child-pageant-to-be-held-every-year-29598551.html</a></p>
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