Social Listees Take It Personal...

Finally, an Irish actress recognised by her peers and awarded thusly... Was it an Oscar, a Bafta or an Emmy we hear you cry??? Erm, no. Not really. Fair City girl Rachel Kavanagh won the Social & Personal 50 most invited party people thingy, so yeah, you can stick your Golden Globe where the sun don't shine...

Rachel Kavanagh

What a strange little backwater society we live in here in Dublin. Go to any PR party on 'the scene' seven days a week and you'll no doubt be surrounded by models who have never seen a catwalk in Paris, New York or London, singers who have never had a song outside the Irish charts, and actresses who have never got within spitting distance of anything resembling a Hollywood movie.

Wesley Quirke, Rosanna Davison

But don't let any of that irrelevant stuff that hold you back folks. As long as you are a lovely girl, can wear a dress, and hold-on to a glass of champagne - the invites will come pouring in the door. What's more, if your busy ShowBiz career allows you to be always available to go to the opening of an envelope, you can even win awards too. Seriously. It's true.

Andy Quirke, Louise Kavanagh

Yup. Don't worry about gaining recognition for your actual talents in your chosen field within ShowBusiness - in Ireland we don't really care about all that shite. Hell no. Just get your boat-race into the diary pages of The Herald, Life Magazine, Social & Personal, VIP, and a few others... That’s all that's really required to have you hailed as a total success and an all round ledge.

Sara Kavanagh

Gaaawd forbid that having enough actual work on that you wouldn't have the time to attend a lunch time shop launch, followed by a dinner time salon opening, and a late night drinks promotion soiree... Party, party and party some more if you want to make it in this town. It's The Irish Dream people.

Michele McGrath

Not that we're knocking Social & Personal awarding Rachel Kavanagh for being thee most invited party person in Ireland for 2008 - fair play to her. She’s an extremely talented actress... But surely an actress should be measured by her acting and not her ability to wear a cocktail dress and pose in a photograph? Maybe we’re missing the point here, but we reckon such accolades are a poisoned chalice and kinda demeaning.

Ally Garvey

For us it all seems to smack of the Lovely Girl contest hilariously parodied in the Father Ted sitcom... Come on, is being featured the most on the mailing lists of PR companies really that big of a big deal?

Amanda Brunker

If so, we reckon we deserve an award too... We get thousands and thousands of spam emails from all over the world each day - can we get an award for most popular website award? What was that classic Groucho Marx quip? "I just don't want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member."

Bill Cullen, Jackie Lavin

We reckon next year Social & Personal should award actors, actresses, musicians, artists, chefs, models, TV presenters, comedians and anyone else in the world of ShowBusiness for achievements in their respective fields rather than the ability to do a Zoolander every time a camera is pointed in their general direction.

Marisa Mackle

We’re old school folks. Talent should be judged, awarded and heralded by media publications on specific terms related to the talent's body of work and not their general standing within the popular press... Popularity contests? Bah humbug.

Melina Skvortsova, Lucia Scervika

Let's face it, everyone in this industry knows it's not that hard to get onto the right PR lists, get invited every launch and opening, and hence get your mug on to the social pages. You just have to have very little else going on in your life to be able to dedicate so much time to being a full time party person... It's a modern day profession!

Dervla Hogan

But then again, in this new age of celebrity for celebrity's sake - we have the likes of Paris Hilton, and a few others, gaining international superstardom without any real discernable talents. Just turn up and pout baby.

Diana Donnelly

And who would have ever thought that young kids now aspire to be "famous" when asked "what would you like to be when you grow up?" Ask them: "famous for what?" and they'll probably shrug their shoulders and blankly gaze back at you... Loike, you need to actually do something to be famous these days? Yea roysh!

Jill Macken

Social & Personal magazine threw a bash in Cafe En Seine last week to celebrate the poll of the 50 Most-Invited people of 2008... If you weren't invited, then you'll most probably not be on next year's list. O the shame.

Lauren Bannon