Ploughing contest set to go ahead

THE World Ploughing Contest will go ahead in Carlow despite fears it would be scrapped.

The county will host the event in September 2006, just days after the Ryder Cup comes to Kildare. The venue for the event will be put through its paces long before then when the area is used for the National Ploughing Championships which go ahead in September this year.

The National Ploughing Association's plans for the event were shattered when it was revealed that the original site proposed at Busherstown, Co Carlow, would be bulldozed to make way for a dual carriageway to Dublin.

But last night, spokeswoman Anna Maria McHugh announced the event would go ahead at a different site. The farms of several families, including father and son Kevin and Kevin Patrick Nolan, Grangeford, and Larry and George Byrne, Friarstown, will be used for the event.

Other neighbours have also made their property available to the organisers as they plan ahead for the 60 competitors from 30 countries in 2006.

National Ploughing Association managing director Anna May McHugh said it was a relief that the event could now go ahead. "I am delighted that the event will be held in Carlow. It's down to two things the goodwill of the farmers in the Grangeford, Friarstown area and the tremendous facilities being offered by the Mount Wolseley Resort, Tullow.

"I honestly don't think we could equal this combination anywhere else in the country and I am very confident that with the support promised by Carlow County Council and Carlow Tourism the 2006 World Ploughing Contest will be a landmark event for Tullow, Carlow and Ireland," said Ms McHugh.