Ireland's first page-three girl Claire Tully claims she is being targeted by Portuguese media because of her career as a glamour model.

Tully moved permanently to Portugal a month ago to live with her boyfriend, Irish footballer Padraig Amond, who plays for Paços de Ferreira in the Portuguese first division. He made his debut two weeks ago.

But despite the attention from the Portuguese press, Tully refuses to be labelled a 'Wag'.

"We are about to move into our apartment and we are just settling down at the moment. However, the Portuguese media have twigged that I used to do a lot of page-three modelling and am relatively well-known where I'm from.

"They wrote a six-page piece on me. Now I have people saying I am a Wag, which I am not. I am not going to be pigeonholed like that, and not going to allow myself to be called a Wag and all the things that are associated with it. There are always people who will want to reduce you down but there's more to me than that," said Tully.

The model, who has a first-class degree in biochemistry, said she was going to concentrate on her writing career.

"This is a permanent move but I can still do bits and pieces of modelling. I am coming back in a month to do my calendar, but I don't want to be doing modelling all the time. I think my writing is something I am going to focus on. I have a column in a youth magazine, in a newspaper and with a few different websites so that will keep me occupied."

Tully said she also hoped to do a PhD in the future, but blamed the recession for creating financial difficulties for students who want to continue in higher education.

According to the 26-year-old, her decision to concentrate on writing is based on the fact modelling is not an "easy lifestyle". She criticised former Miss Ireland Andrea Roche for "glamorising" the modelling life.

"Girls write to me saying they admire me so much because of my modelling but they are only seeing the glamorised version of the job. That's why I get so angry when I hear Andrea Roche talking about her beauty pageant, from which she probably makes a bomb, saying that it is an excellent opportunity for young girls because they can earn a week's wages in one photo call. That is not how it works."

Tully said she will return to Ireland for Christmas to visit family, but will be staying in Portugal full-time with her Carlow-born boyfriend.