It's great to be back at the Ploughing as the world heads to Laois

John Murphy from Timoleague, West Cork,  adjusting his plough at the 2016 National Ploughing Championships at Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly. Picture: Dan LInehan

PEOPLE from the tillage lands of Tasmania to the furrows of Kenya and from one end of Ireland to the other recognise it as one of the great folk gatherings of modern times.

The event known as the national ploughing championships was held unbroken every year from 1931 to 2001, when it was called off due to the foot and mouth crisis, but it resumed the following year at Ballacolla in Laois.

And it continued to be held annually at different locations until the Covid-19 virus forced its cancellation in 2020 and 2021 as people world-wide coped with the most lethal pandemic in over 100 years.

But with the lifting of restrictions imposed during the crisis, the event will return next week to yet another Laois location in Ratheniska with renewed zest, infectious expectations, and a growing confidence that it will again attract the crowds.

Crowds on the opening day of the 2019 National Ploughing Championships in Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co. Carlow. Picture Dan Linehan

The 91st national championships will have the added attraction of the 67th World Contest, allocated to the Republic of Ireland following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, where it was due to have been held last month.

National Ploughing Association managing director, Anna May McHugh hailed the return of “The Ploughing” in the aftermath of the most devastating pandemic in her lifetime as wonderful. “We are massively excited to be back with the added honour of holding a World Contest,” she said.

Work on preparing the sprawling 900-acre greenfield site to accommodate a huge exhibition area as well the national and world ploughing competitions is ready. And so is a pop-up town, serviced by 40 kilometres of trackway and other facilities.

People from vastly different lifestyles and backgrounds across the country greatly missed their annual pilgrimage to the “The Ploughing” during the pandemic lockdowns because it had become an annual outing of obligation.

It was where they met and chatted with old friends, made new acquaintances, engaged in lively banter, went in search of bargains in multiple retail arcades, admired the style at fashion shows, listened to music and even danced a set or two, sometimes in the middle of day.

For farmer families, it was always an occasion to exchange views with Cabinet ministers and industry leaders about the future of agriculture, often against the background sounds of Ritchie Kavanagh singing “Aon Focal Eile” or a fast talking “Del Boy” market trader extolling the versatility of a gadget that could peel carrots and potatoes or even shear wool from flocks of sheep.

As the crowds flocked to the rural feast each year, politicians, farming and community leaders followed and so did traders and service providers with advice for visitors on how to save their souls and spend their money.

People shopped as long as they liked and went home in evening, laden with purchases and plastic bags filled with freebie goodies, brochures for holidays in the sun and a new interest in futuristic driverless tractors that cost as much as a small farm.

Lisa Ring, Dromtarriffe, Co Cork showing of the new Munster Bovine app at this year’s National Ploughing Championships at Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co. Carlow. Picture Dan Linehan

There was even a time during the giddy days of the Celtic Tiger when visitors were given advice on how to buy a farm in Serbia or invest in Bulgarian property.

Those days are long gone but not the trade stands where the level of business transacted next week will be a good reflection of how the economy is doing.

People missed all that activity and more in the past two years, but they are now being beckoned back as the swallows begin their epic journey to warmers places in south Africa for the winter and the trees start to change colour and shed their leaves.

Phone calls have been made, accommodation booked, maps consulted, traffic routes noted, the location of colour coded car parks identified, and meetings arranged at agreed exhibitor stands or specified pavilions.

Those who attend “The Ploughing” every year see it as a cross between the Fleadh Cheoil, the All- Ireland finals, Listowel during race week, Tullamore Show, Munster hurling days in Thurles, the Galway Races or the morning of an Ulster football final in Clones.

It has even been compared to Cheltenham, where the late Fr. Sean Breen, a former parish priest of Ballymore Eustace in Kildare, a regular visitor to the racing festival, once remarked: “It’s like a check list – if people aren’t there, they are either ill or they’re dead.” Almost 300,000 people attended the three-day event when it was last held at Fenagh in Carlow in 2019, but this year it will take place in more challenging times due to the impact of Brexit, Covid 19, the war in Ukraine, and worries about energy and fertiliser supplies and rapidly rising costs.

Visitors to Ratheniska will have a lot to catch up on after their two-year break. They will inquire about those they met on previous occasions and rejoice that “The Ploughing” is back to take up where it had left off.

Some might even be tempted to recall Éamon de Valera’s arrest at a Sinn Féin election rally in Ennis in 1923 and repeat what he said when he returned to resume his speech a year later following his release from prison: “Well, as I was saying to you when we were interrupted....”