Mother gets a bad break and I feel like taking the tractor to Dublin

ALL politics is local, they say. And for me, the farmers’ protest of 2003 will always be about my mother breaking four ribs in the cause of Irish agriculture.

Travelling over the bumpy road to Ballinasloe's Portiuncula Hospital last Sunday morning, trying to get her to hospital with the minimum of pain, I did not have time to reflect on the irony of it. My mother had received, rather than struck, a blow for Irish farming. But in its own way the incident illustrated what last week's tractor protest was all about.

Mrs Mullen was injured after she went out in the rain to do some chores before Mass. A heifer pushed her against the bar of a cattle-crush, breaking her poor bones, and all our Sunday plans were shelved. Thankfully she is recovering well, but my own share of the family workload will rise dramatically over the weekends to come. All Dublin engagements are hereby cancelled. The accident reminded me of the many dangers farmers face, over long hours and in wet weather, to make a modest income. Or, as in my parents' case, to supplement an income.