An estimated 100,000 people attended this year's Kerrygold Dublin Horse Show which ended yesterday evening. It was the 128th show and one which had been under threat because of foot-and-mouth disease.
However, according to Mr Shane Cleary, chief executive of the Royal Dublin Society, gate receipts were well up on last year.
"We weathered a whole lot of storms of many kinds this year. We had the threat of foot-and-mouth and then the heavy rain during the event, but it went very well," he said.
Mr Cleary said he was particularly happy with the entertainment mix the show had provided this year and the support shown by the people of Dublin for the event.
RDS research had shown, he said, that the majority of people who attend the show come from Dublin and the surrounding counties. There is also a high number of visitors from Northern Ireland, who account for 25 per cent of the exhibition space.
This year, according to Mr Cleary, the show cost £1.3 million to stage and even with a £250,000 input from the title sponsor, Kerrygold, the event cost the RDS £200,000.
However, the society's funds are strong and with a growing membership over the last five years there are now 6,000 paid-up members.
"On a turnover of £7 million last year, we made an operating profit of £1.3 million and we are financially secure with good revenues," Mr Cleary said.
Part of that secure revenue arises from payments for the long-term lease of society land. The chief executive has been charged by the society to draw up a future development plan, and he stressed that this did not mean selling any more land - the society has taken a decision not to sell any more of its grounds.
In the 10 years of his tenure, £10 million has been spent on upgrading the grounds and this work, he said, would continue with an emphasis this year on the main showgrounds area.
The relationship with the main show's sponsor, the Irish Dairy Board, remains "very good" and he said he would hope it will continue its sponsorship, which is reviewed on an annual basis.
Mr Cleary said the society was committed to running the livestock show again next year in Kill, Co Kildare. It had been cancelled this year because of the foot-and-mouth alert.
Meanwhile, outside the grounds, gardai at Irishtown are continuing their investigation into an incident involving a valuable pony taken from the showgrounds on Friday night. A Garda patrol spotted the pony, Star of Cashel, being ridden bare-back along Anglesea Road, just outside the showgrounds, by a 15-year-old boy who insisted that he owned the animal.
It took only a short time to establish that the pony mare, estimated to be worth nearly £30,000, belonged to Mr Robbie Fallon from Co Galway, and it was returned to the grounds.
The teenager, from south Co Dublin, was released into his parents' custody and a file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.