ONE OF the lesser known perks given to those awarded the Freedom of Dublin is the right to graze sheep on St Stephen’s Green without any charge.
Yesterday morning saw sheep in the Green and not a sight of a freeman or woman of the city claiming the free grazing.
Instead, like the Irish public, the sheep were being fleeced as part of the launch of the Click All- Ireland Shearing Championships which will take place in Burt, Co Donegal, on May 30th and 31st.
Bemused Dubliners and visitors watched while ewes were sheared on the spot while photographers took what appeared to be zillions of photographs.
The event, which is expected to attract over 10,000 people, is being organised by An Grianán Sheep Shearing Association which said over 1,500 sheep will lose their wool to 200 shearers taking part in the competitions. Not only will they come from all parts of Ireland but from New Zealand and Australia, Britain and Europe.
Donegal will be producing its own world champion, Ivan Scott, from Kilmacrennan, Letterkenny, who set a world record by shearing 737 lambs in eight hours last December in New Zealand.
He is the current Irish Open Champion and he will be defending that title again this year and competing in the International Open Championship to take the prize from Hamish Mitchell of Scotland, the current holder. The event, sponsored by Novartis Animal Health, will also see the selection of a specially chosen “Grianán Queen”, from a beauty pageant, and she will preside over the weekend proceedings.
The guest of honour in the Green yesterday was Pádraig Walshe, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, who warned that the future of the entire sheep industry was at risk because of falling returns from the markets.
He urged the diversion of €29 million in unused Common Agricultural Policy payments to the sector and the factories to stand up to the supermarkets to resist downward price pressures.
One of the organising committee said he reckoned the politicians looking to win local and European seats in the week following the event will not be able to resist the occasion; he joked that they may need a special pen for them in Burt.