More than 40,000 people attended the opening day of the National Ploughing Championships in Castletownroche, Co Cork, yesterday despite very difficult conditions.
The late arrival of the special steel trackway which is used to protect the land and keep the visitor dry-shod meant the site had been badly cut up before the event. Heavy rain during the previous fortnight meant that visitors were walking around in a porridge-like mixture of clay and water which was smeared over everything in sight.
The conditions led to a call from the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, for the National Ploughing Association to consider a permanent site for the event.
He said he had arranged a meeting with the NPA and the Irish Show Association to discuss the matter because of the cultural and social importance of the event.
However, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, said he did not agree with Mr O'Keeffe and he preferred the idea of the event moving around the country.
The NPA managing director, Mrs Anna May McHugh, said the association could have a national ploughing site only if financial assistance was forthcoming from the Government. She said she favoured three sites throughout the country on which the ploughing would rotate over a three-year period.
She signalled that this would be the last of the large events to be staged by the NPA because it was too large a task to provide services for 900 exhibitors. "I would like to see the next event having a maximum of 500 exhibitors who have well-serviced stands and plenty of space.".
Mrs McHugh said it was a miracle that the event had gone ahead despite the conditions, and this was due to the dedication of the volunteers and the help people gave to one another on-site when they faced difficulties.
There were long delays in getting on to the site from the Limerick and Mallow roads, but delays from Dublin and the east were less difficult.
The second day of the championships normally draws the largest crowds and all eyes are on the weather in the hope that there will be no more rain.