Festival celebrates Irish lamb

IRISH lamb will be celebrated at a festival in Roscommon from April 30 to May 5.

The first Roscommon Lamb Festival will promote local food through events that will also have a national relevance.

Bord Bia’s spring lamb promotion will be launched at the event by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Mary Coughlan.

A meeting of the Irish Farmers Association national sheep committee will mark the occasion and there will be a seminar on world sheep production.

Irish sheepmeat exports are worth an estimated €174 million. In recent years, there has been a decline in production, low returns and growing competition from imports.

The festival programme, organised by a committee headed by Laurence Fallon, chairperson, will include a gala dinner with chef Rachel Allen, as well as a global cooking event and a street carnival.

There will be a special lamb show and sale at Roscommon Mart while the creations of national designers will be modelled at a “Wool Alone” fashion show. A sheep pageant and a farmers’ market have also been organised.

Sheep shearing will be demonstrated. The fleece will be spun by Patricia McNevin and knitted into a garment. She will display spinning wheels, some up to 8 ft tall and knitting needles 3 ft long.

Charlie Finneran, Derryglad Folk Museum, will display implements used by sheep farmers over the past 100 years.