THE TAOISEACH Brian Cowen was subjected to personal verbal abuse by a small section of the 60,000 strong crowd at the National Ploughing Championships in Athy yesterday.
As he was making his way to visit some of the trade stands, following a press conference, his group was surrounded by about 15 anti-Lisbon campaigners carrying placards shouting “No means No”. Others hurled personal abuse.
There was some scuffling as gardaí removed one man who had blocked the Taoiseach’s path shouting anti-Lisbon slogans. A small section of the protesters hurled personal abuse at the Taoiseach who was diverted into the Food Village marquee where the gardaí blocked off the protesters.
Mr Cowen left the marquee by a side entrance, losing the protesters. Later he received a warm welcome when he visited the Irish Farmers’ Association, Macra na Feirme and Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association stands.
However, a small group, surrounded his car as he was leaving the site and there was some jeering, but he was also clapped by some of the crowd.
He told reporters he had no difficulty with people protesting as long as they did so in a lawful way.
Earlier, a relaxed Taoiseach, reiterated his Government’s commitment to the agriculture sector and drove a tractor for photographers when he visited the ploughing competition plots when he came on site.
The managing director of the National Ploughing Association, Anna May McHugh, said the majority of those attending yesterday had given a good reception to the Taoiseach.
It was impossible to prevent protests when staging an event of this size, she said.
“There was a very small number of people involved and I must say the Taoiseach was very relaxed and wanted to meet people and he did. I would have preferred had it not happened, but it did,” she said.
The attendance over the three days was a record-breaking 190,000 visitors, which was a marvellous turnout, given the recession in the country and the response from exhibitors had been very positive, she said.
Above all, the traffic plan had worked remarkably well and she praised the effort put into it by Supt John Murphy and Sgt Ronan McDonnell. The plan had contributed greatly to the success of the championships.
Those attending the event, she said, had praised the way traffic had flowed and delays were cut to a minimum both entering and leaving the site. It was the best site the championships had ever been staged on in her time in the association.
Mrs McHugh, who confirmed the event will be staged at the same venue next year with the European championships, said country people tended to use the championships as a “relief valve” after winning the harvest.
Mrs McHugh defended the entry charge of €20 for adults and €15 for students and said it represented good value for money especially as parking was free and there was so much to see.
She ruled out the possibility of holding the championships over a weekend. Market research had indicated there was no demand for the event to be staged other than midweek.
At the conclusion of the event, Ireland’s two top ploughmen were named. William John Kehoe, Fauxmills, Co Wexford won the senior conventional title. His sister Elanor won the lady’s competition during the week.
The Reveresible Ploughing champion was Liam O’Driscoll, Bandon, Co Cork, representing Cork West.
Mr O’Driscoll and Mr Kehoe will represent Ireland at the World Ploughing Championships in New Zealand, next April.
View the Irishtimes.com slideshow from the National Ploughing championships at http://www.irishtimes.com/indepth/slideshows/ploughing-championships/