THE NATIONAL Ploughing Championships were back on track yesterday with an attendance of 80,000 at the second day of the event which was held in blazing sunshine.
With the vote on the Lisbon Treaty just over a week away, two party leaders, Enda Kenny of Fine Gael and Eamon Gilmore of the Labour Party, toured the site whipping up support for a Yes vote.
An early visitor too, was the embattled Minster for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, who was on the site by 8am and conducted a whirlwind tour of the site, leaving at 1pm.
While Macra na Feirme, the young farmers’ organisation, and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association were critical of the Minister’s policies on the dairy industry and on aid for setting up young farmers in the business, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) attacked Government bureaucracy.
IFA president Pádraig Walshe said Irish agriculture had the potential to increase exports by €2 billion and to create 16,000 sustainable jobs but the Government must take action now to remove the excessive bureaucracy and costly regulations that are stifling this potential.
“With 1,000 businesses exhibiting here and tens of thousands of people attending each day, the Government must recognise the importance of the sector and its potential to deliver jobs and exports for the economy,” he said.
He said competitiveness was a key ingredient to realising the potential of the sector and the Government had a key role in ensuring that energy, utility and bureaucratic costs were slashed in the economy.
The Irish Rural Link organisation (IRL) claimed the number of people able to travel to next year’s ploughing championships would be severely curtailed unless the disproportionate impact of a carbon tax on rural households is adequately offset.
IRL, the national network campaigning for sustainable rural communities, said proposed carbon taxes presented a significant threat to the rural way of life in ways people are only beginning to understand.
“It will affect how often they can travel, the cost of services and whether or not they can heat their homes properly. Irish Rural Link will continue to campaign for an equitable carbon tax which does not unfairly punish rural households with no alternatives,” said IRL leader Séamus Boland.
He said research by the ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) and others had shown that rural households were disproportionately affected by carbon tax because they are forced to travel longer distances due to patchy public transport. They also have limited opportunities to switch to lower emission fuels such as piped gas.
Mr Boland praised the public transport arrangements which the National Ploughing Championships put in place with Bus Éireann and Iarnród Éireann but said public transport routes were not integrated across the country so many thousands still had to rely on cars. “If they are hit with a disproportionate carbon tax on top of rising oil prices many will be forced to stay at home next year,” he claimed.
The organisers of the event said many patrons had availed of the train/bus options put in place and while it was carrying out a review of the numbers involved, it appeared the system was working well.
Ploughing championships spokeswoman Anna Marie McHugh said many patrons had travelled through Athy and Portarlington using public transport to attend the event.
Those attending praised the traffic system put in place for the championships which saw traffic queues reduced both entering and leaving the grounds which are on the outskirts of Athy.
The championships conclude today and Taoiseach Brian Cowen is expected to visit the site at lunchtime.