Children performing Irish dancing, fiddle players and horses and hounds competed for attention with EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and long-time ‘ploughing director’ Anna May McHugh at the launch of the National Ploughing Championships in Co Laois, this morning.
Billed by the organisers as ‘Europe’s largest outdoor exhibition’, the championships are expected to attract some 300,000 visitors to Ratheniska over three days from September 19th.
Speaking at the launch on site in Ratheniska this morning, managing director of the National Ploughing Association Ms McHugh said the event “not only provides a national stage to showcase all things that are great about Ireland, but also brings together people from all sectors of Irish society, both rural and urban, to enjoy three days immersed in country living. ”
She preparations had been ongoing on site for over a month. The event will include 1,700 trade sites, making it the largest town in the midlands - albeit on a temporary basis - over the three days.
A large scale Garda traffic management plan is being set up around the site on the outskirts of Stradbally, and Supt Tony Lonergan said visitors would be advised to ‘stick to the maps”.
He said these would indicate key routes from right across the country, and visitors would be sent links to online maps and routes with their tickets. Maps would also be available on the NPA website.
Millions of euro worth of agricultural machinery and plant equipment are expected to be on display, bringing business from home and abroad for the exhibitors.
Ms McGuinness said farming was under considerable pressure from change in response to the climate crisis, and she urged farm communities to focus not on fear, but on positive opportunities offered by change.
She recalled her first ploughing championships at Wellington Bridge in the early 1980s, when boots were lost in the mud. But she said the NPA had “never seen a panic that was not controllable”.
James Maloney of Enterprise Ireland said the championships showcased Irish agri-business attracted foreign buyers and resulted in sales that Enterprise Ireland could not get from any other international show.
