REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT GRANGEFORD, TULLOW
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE NATIONAL PLOUGHING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT GRANGEFORD, TULLOW, CO. CARLOW, THURSDAY 30 SEPTEMBER
Dia dhíbh. Tá áthas orm bheith thar nais anseo i bhúr measc ag an taispeántas mór so, ar ócáid comortaisí naisiúnta de Cumann Treabhta na hÉireann. Is ócáid mór é seo anois i saol muintir na hÉireann, go mór mór muintir na tuaithe, le daoine ag teacht ó ceann ceanntair na tíre.
It’s good to be back again at the unique, wonderful gathering that is the National Ploughing Championships and to be in the company of men, women and children from every corner of this island. For these three days Grangeford, Tullow has been transformed into a holiday resort, a giant agricultural convention centre, a massive international trade show and a huge competition arena. 150,000 people will have left here with memories of friendships made, of business transacted, of competitions won or lost and the days to the next ploughing championships can’t come quick enough for them. Just when you think it can’t get any better Anna May and her team do it again only bigger and better than ever before.
This is without question the premier event in our island’s rural calendar, and Tullow has worked hard to ensure that as this year’s host the welcome has been unrivalled in the history of these championships which take us back to Ireland of 1931 and to a very different landscape indeed. Those were the days when the numbers working the land ran to hundreds of thousands and so did the number of horses. Tractors were still a rarity unlike today when they too number in the hundreds of thousands. But one thing has remained unchanged through this relentless process of modernisation and that is the pride taken in their work by those who plough the land. It is their professionalism that is showcased with pride here each year and no matter how sophisticated the equipment, it is their skill which draws the crowd and earns the applause.
The farming community more than any other knows how much work has to be done before the harvest days come and so it is that the foundations of the success Ireland enjoys today were laid down well in much more testing and difficult times. Stewardship of our beautiful rural landscape and of our safe food chain has passed from one farming generation to the next and we have you to thank for so much that is good and so much that is simply taken for granted.
That is why it is good to see farming Ireland and their urban neighbours taking a well earned rest to be here, to enjoy the company of friends and family, to make new friends, to see what is in store for the future whether it is in terms of technology, or regulations, opportunities or fresh ideas. I hope you return to work refreshed and renewed in your vocation to the farming way of life. For all its struggles it is the backbone of our country, the guardian of our story as a people.
I wish to compliment Anna May McHugh and the National Ploughing Association for their endeavours in organising this year's Championships but no amount of thanks could ever do justice to the mountain of work they put in to organising this epic event each year. They are entitled to be very proud of all they have achieved here but I know that already their minds are working overtime on next year’s event in Cork and the World Ploughing Championships which will be held here in Carlow in 2006.
A huge thank you to our hosts Kevin, Margaret and Kevin-Paul Nolan together with Larry, Kay and George Byrne who have made us all so warmly welcome even though we have overwhelmed their lives and their livelihoods by sheer force of numbers - but then nothing vindicates their work and gives them more gratification than the happy faces of one hundred and fifty thousand visitors.
I would also like to acknowledge the many other people who have helped make the Championships a success, especially the local community, the State Agencies and Commercial enterprises - each of whom is a vital and generous supporter of these championships. Congratulations to all those who have won the competitions and thank you to all the competitors whose enthusiasm for ploughing and in particular for excellence in ploughing is still the best reason why we all can’t stay home when the Ploughing Championships are up and running. All good things they say must come to an end even these glorious days here in Carlow and so with regret and gratitude in equal measure I now declare the 2004 National Ploughing Championships officially closed.
Go raibh maith agaibh arís as ucht an cuireadh chun bheith anseo, agus go n-éirí go geal libh go léir.