Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of the National Ploughing Championships Cardenton, Athy
Remarks by President McAleese at the opening of the National Ploughing Championships Cardenton, Athy, Co. Kildare
Dia dhíbh. Tá an-áthas orm bheith thar nais anseo i bhúr measc ag an taispeántas mór seo, 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 tire. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an cuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom. Isn’t it good to see the ploughing come back home to Athy where it all started on this very soil so many years ago? Who’d have thought that a bet between two men back in 1931 would result in all of us being back here at the scene almost eighty years later?
I am a regular visitor to the Ploughing Championships but even so I am always amazed by the sheer size, scale and energy of the event. A temporary town appears in a field almost overnight as if from nowhere, and then disappears almost as quickly. For that one special week in late September this new and unique town buzzes with life of all sorts as tens of thousands of visitors, competitors, exhibitors, shoppers and the customary ‘tyre kickers’ arrive from all parts of Ireland and abroad.
The smooth organisation is only possible of course because of the support and cooperation of countless people, all part of captain Anna May McHugh’s amazing team. In good times and in these more difficult times, Anna May’s optimism, enthusiasm and determination never falter and just when you think it can’t get any better, she makes sure it does. So from all of us to you Anna May, to your daughter Anna Marie and to your great team in the National Ploughing Association, congratulations on bringing those thousands of hours of meticulous preparation to a very successful conclusion. A special thank you to our hosts today, the Fennin family and to their neighbours who have opened up their farms for this wonderful gathering. I hope all the disruption and exhausting preparations will lead to a store of the happiest of memories and to deserved local pride in what you have been able to accomplish together. It is ultimately the voluntary work that makes this event possible and very special, so a big thank you to all the volunteers, to local residents, clubs and rural organisations, An Gárda Síochána, Kildare County Council, and everyone who got involved. You can be very proud of what you have achieved.
It has been a tough time and a tough summer for the farming community. Many of those gathered today carry burdens of worry and unease but they also bring that wonderful spirit of resilience and transcendence of facing into life’s ups and downs with an ethic of hard work and of care for one another. When the Championships were born back in 1931, Ireland was at that time too facing great challenges in an unstable world. We got through them, not to a perfect world but to an improving world that sometimes went two steps forward and one step back and much more rarely one step forward and two steps back. Each one of you has played a part in ensuring that Irish agriculture, the jewel in our industrial crown and the heartland of our communities, is bang up to date and as strong as you can make it. I wish each of you well and especially I wish you peace of heart to enjoy the fruits of your hard and relentless labour.
Whatever the economy is doing, whatever the weather is doing, there is one question that never changes here and that is - who is the best plougher, for no matter how elaborate the exhibitions and entertainment it is the neatly ploughed soil that is the very soul of these days here in Athy. Irish ploughing is always up there with the world’s best and well done to John Tracey and Liam O’Driscoll who did us proud, taking home silver and bronze medals from the world ploughing championships in Slovenia. I wish all the competitors and supporters well, and I add once again my thanks and praise to all involved in this wonderfully, varied and fascinating Championship.
Go raibh maith agaibh arís agus go n-éirí go geal libh go léir.