President's deep personal ties to Ploughing

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina in 2018 with “The Plough and the Stars”, a new contribution to public art recognising their involvement in the Ploughing Championships, while commemorating the 1913 Lockout of Dublin workers. 

The great grá that Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins has for the National Ploughing Championships is deep-rooted and personal.

He grew up in Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, spent his formative years living on a small farm and was aware from an early age of both the challenges and joys of life in rural Ireland.

Since his inauguration as President in 2011, he has attended the Ploughing Championships each year that it has been held.

He has described it as "an outstanding example of the Irish genius” and “the most beloved rendezvous in Ireland’s rural calendar” with a unique ability to balance tradition with innovation.

A regular visitor before he became Head of State, he has often spoken about how much he has enjoyed his days at the gathering, which he says is familiar in his mind and dear to his heart.

His great-uncle Patrick Higgins, who emigrated to Australia in 1862, went on to win local draught horse and ploughing competitions in the Darling Downs, a farming region in southern Queensland.

President Higgins made his first official visit to the National Ploughing Championships in 2012 when it was held at Heathpark, New Ross, Co Wexford, where he set a tone in his address that has continued over the years.

Describing the event as a most authentic expression of an Ireland in touch with reality, he often attributed its success to the concept of the meitheal.

Neighbours, communities and public bodies come together in a spirit of co-operation and volunteering.

He has also repeatedly stressed that the remarkable success of the event is a testament to NPA managing director, Anna May McHugh, and her unfaltering commitment, dedication and energy over the decades.

President Higgins always starts his tour of the sprawling site at the horse ploughing plots “because that’s the beginning of it all, the original balancing of the two horses, and balancing with the plough.” 

It is there too that he has seen how the age-old combination of horse and plough has been gradually displaced over the past half century or more by powerful tractors and modern technology.

The ploughs used nowadays on Irish farms bear little resemblance to those of the 1950s, he told those at the opening of the 2013 championships in Ratheniska, Co Laois.

Yet, he noted that some ploughmen continue to cherish their horses out of love for that beautiful animal but also because they, and the loy diggers, take pride and pleasure in keeping alive, and even perfecting, an ancient human skill.

President Higgins, revealed at the same venue two years later, that he and his wife Sabina, look forward to coming to the event every year.

“You really see every aspect of Irish life and Irishness at the ploughing,”, he said, describing it as a celebration of rural Ireland and farming.

On another occasion, he said everybody across Ireland knows that the ploughing championships are a major national occasion.

But they often struggle to explain what exactly they are, and why they are so important and popular.

He said the late and great agricultural journalist Sean MacConnell wittily answered those questions when he wrote:

“To those who attend, no explanation is necessary; to those who do not, explanation is virtually impossible. Suffice to say, your education is incomplete unless you have been to one of these gatherings.” 

The important role that farming families play in Irish society has also been highlighted by the President in each of his opening addresses at the event.

He has often described farmers as the bedrock of rural communities, driving the economy, building and maintaining organisations and institutions and acting as custodians for its heritage and landscape.

“There is a deep wisdom among farmers, a wisdom that comes from their close connection to the land and all the species it sustains.

“Those who work the soil understand the delicate balance that must be maintained between human activity and the natural world,” he said.

President Higgins has applauded the efforts of farmers “who are proving that it is possible to balance the needs of production with the need to protect our environment.” 

Farm families must be supported, nurtured and sustained, he said, outlining how their work is more than mere production.

“It is a space of life. It has an intrinsic value that goes far beyond the economic, a way of life that must be cherished and protected,” he said.

He has also highlighted food insecurity, global hunger, poverty and debt, the impact of climate change and horrific wars in his speeches and has called on global leaders to tackle these and other issues.

Last year, he noted that 3.3 billion people, not far off half of humanity, were reportedly living in countries that spend more on debt interest than on health and that $2.44 trillion was spent on armaments in 2023, the highest ever recorded.

He asked what could be achieved if such sums were not deferred to preparations for war.

Referring to Gaza, he said the outrageous level of killing must end with an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the immediate provision of all necessary aid.

“In these difficult times, we must ensure that the rhetoric of war and the shocking escalation of armaments do not sideline the agreements we have made on poverty, inequality, climate action, and sustainability,” he said.

President Higgins in his speeches has also highlighted what he sees as injustices and inaction and challenged global leaders to find solutions to hunger, drought and wars.

In 2018, he and his wife Sabina unveiled a new piece of public art which was donated to Áras an Uachtaráin in recognition of their involvement in the championships.

Named “The Plough and the Stars”, it is a collaboration between renowned sculptor John Behan, former National Ploughing champion Gerry King from Louth and the Office of Public Works.

It commemorates the 1913 Lockout of Dublin workers and the Citizen Army, whose first secretary and historian was the playwright, Sean O’Casey.

The piece is based on a Star plough, manufactured in the 1930s by the Wexford Engineering Company, President Higgins said it is not only a monument to workers struggle in the past but is a living symbol of the imperative for solidarity between all citizens, rural and urban, and those who labour in the fields, on the shop floor and in factories.

Speaking at last year’s event, he said: “We can, and we will, together, meet the challenges of the future.” 

He listed climate change and environmental degradation, managing Brexit, feeding the planet’s growing population and protecting farm families and rural communities as being among those challenges.   Above all, he said, it is about “continuing to build a Republic of which our forebears would be proud, one rooted, like our people, in solidarity, compassion, courage and generosity”.

He defined that Republic as being one that is willing, indeed anxious, to fulfil with others a world of sufficiency and peace rather than one of unabated greed and war.

President Higgins has ploughed many a scripted furrow in his addresses to the National Ploughing Championships.

And as the headlands on that journey come into view with his final official visit next Tuesday, the country’s ploughing family and others will express their appreciation.

They will wish him and his wife Sabina well in retirement with a phrase from the Irish language that he has always used at the start of every one of his speeches at the event over the years — “Go raibh maith agat Uachtarán.”