Fáilte Ireland has been criticised over the level of funding it provided to the world and national ploughing championships. The event broke all records with more than 225,000 people attending the championships at Grangeford in Co Carlow.
Anna May McHugh, the managing director of the National Ploughing Association, said that had it not been for financial help from the Department of Agriculture and Food, the association might not have been able to stage the event at the level it did.
She told a press conference on Saturday that she was very disappointed that there was so little co-operation from the tourist board seeing as it was the largest agricultural event in Europe and the biggest world championships staged on the globe. "I was disappointed with the tourist board because of the number of tourists we brought in," she said.
Ms McHugh said there was a marked contrast between its input into the Ryder Cup and the ploughing championships.
"They are two totally different events but that being said, we will be here next year. The Ryder Cup won't," she said.
Ms McHugh said she had approached Fáilte Ireland for funding years ago but the amount it had given "would hardly be noticed".
"I will not disclose what it was but it was very small and I was very disappointed with the funding."
She said people from many countries attended, the biggest number of visitors coming from England, Scotland, Wales and Austria. She added there had been a trade team from Dusseldorf, from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Finland and a large contingent from Sweden. "It is very hard to quantify just how many people came in but we certainly did our bit for tourism this year."
She said it was very expensive to host the world championships because a fee had to be paid to the World Association and also because facilities had to be provided free of charge to competitors and those travelling with them.
Ms McHugh, who has steered the event from relative obscurity to its success over recent years, said she was very pleased that the Department of Agriculture had supported the championships and thanked both Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen.
"They acknowledge the importance of the event not only to Carlow but to Ireland as a whole and I am very grateful to them," she said.
She accepted that the championships would have injected as much as €20 million into the local economy and said it had cost the organisation around €3 million to stage.
The trip to the championships was a big shock for 120 of those who attended the Pfizer Health Check screening clinic. This number - 10 per cent of the 1,200 who visited the clinic - were told they required same day emergency referral.
The company said that 45 per cent of people screened had raised cholesterol and 39 per cent had raised blood pressure. Furthermore, 6 per cent of people had cardiovascular disease.
A report launched at the championships, the Pfizer Rural and Agricultural Health Index, outlined that farmers are more at risk of illness that any other population group in Ireland.
The World Ploughing Championship, which ended on Saturday, was won by 17-year-old Andrew Mitchell of Angus in Scotland. Ireland's Eamonn Tracey came third.