ROSE of Tralee winner Lisa Murtagh has decided to conduct her official rose duties from New York while working full-time as a lawyer. She will review her situation again at Christmas.

Most girls, when crowned the Rose of Tralee at the annual festival in Kerry in August, make the decision to take a year out from their career or studies and travel the world representing the festival.

For Murtagh the decision was slightly more difficult because she just started with Clifford Chance, a global law firm in New York, in April.

"I've decided not to make any decision until Christmas. I want to see what happens with my job at that point and then I'll make my decision," said Murtagh, who commended her firm and the Rose of Tralee office in Kerry for their support and understanding of her situation.

Although Murtagh, who lives in Yonkers with her mother Breda from Athea in Co. Limerick and her father Colman from Longford Town, has decided to carry out her duties from this side of the Atlantic, she has been kept very busy.

"I've already attended both the Longford Social Club and the Longford GAA dinner dance and I went down to Pennsylvania to participate in the QVC Rose of Tralee special - now that was great fun," she said.

And that's not all for the budding Rose. Murtagh will be heading to England in November where she will represent the Rose of Tralee festival at the Cheltenham races, and after a few weeks back in New York she will jet set off again, this time to Ireland where she will be a guest of Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern at his annual ball in December.

"They are keeping me very busy and I'm having a ball," she said, in between working extremely late hours in her job.

"I haven't even had time to send out thank you cards yet to everybody. This past week I've worked every night until 1 a.m. but I'm enjoying the job too so it's all worth it," she said.

Murtagh told the Irish Voice in August that she has one particular ambition in mind as the Rose. "I'd like to rejuvenate the Rose of Tralee centers in the U.S., especially New York," she said.

"New York is such a traditional Irish town and I know that the community is dwindling because of immigration and people aren't coming over like they used to, but there is still so many people who are of Irish descent so I'd like to see the New York center become the power house it should be."

As part of winning the Rose of Tralee title Murtagh received a ?25,000 ($37,000) travel voucher to use for rose business, the use of a car while in Ireland for the year and jewelry and cutlery from Newbridge Silverware.