Cool reception for McConalogue but Higgins prompts cheers from crowds at the Ploughing

With two more days to go yet at one of Ireland’s biggest festivals, there will be more politicking, more debates on nitrates and more people caked in muck

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue took to the Fianna Fáil tent in the early afternoon to speak to reporters, with farmers quickly following in behind the media scrum. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

At the Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, there were harsh words from farmers to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue as the rain bucketed down.

All along the road to the site in rural Co Laois, posters from the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) were erected calling on Mr McConalogue to take action on key issues faced by the lobby.