National Ploughing Association
National Ploughing Championships 2024
Bus Éireann drew great interest from crowds yesterday bringing extra fun, colour and excitement to its activation this year.
On site Bus Éireann have buses, bus props, prizes and much more. Come find us at Block 3, Row 21 and Stand 459 and see for yourself!
Spirits were high as visitors poured onto the site from early morning and the day didn’t disappoint the 102,500 attendees as clear blue skies shone throughout the day, shoppers and agricultural enthusiasts joined celebrities and politicians on over 30km of metal roadway to experience a great day out. From farming to fashion, artisan foods to top-of-the range machinery; the very best of what Ireland has to offer was on display today for people of all interests to enjoy.
Commenting on attendance, Ms Anna May McHugh stated “We are extremely pleased with the turn out today. The traffic flowed well thanks to the guard’s traffic management and visitor co-operation. Everywhere you looked people were smiling and enjoying themselves experiencing the whole array of activities on offer. With the good weather set to continue along with 2 more action packed days of trading and ploughing, we are expecting similar crowds all week.
President Michael D. Higgins officially launched the event paying tribute to Ms Anna May McHugh, the Gardaí, Carlow County Council and the hundreds of volunteers and staff that are required to stage the event. He also visited the ploughing plots to examine the conditions and meet with the Under 28 conventional competitors and Horse Ploughing competitions. Having witnessed the competitive conditions and chatted with the county representatives, he then attended and visited several exhibitors to experience and witness all that the Championships has to offer
Ken Smyth from Palatine Engineering Ltd the overall winner of the prestigious “Machine of the Year’ competition with the P.P Ripper said he ‘was absolutely overwhelmed with the result.” The judges Melvin Bailey Brofi International, UCD’s Kevin McDonald and Wilfried Wolf from DLG were extremely impressed with the strength of all of the 15 entries.
With all that is happening on site tomorrow, Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co Carlow is officially the place to be for #Ploughing19.
Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen TD, today officially opened the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) Farm Safety exhibit at the National Ploughing Championships in Ballintrane, Fenagh, County Carlow.
At the event, Minister Breen launched a new HSA publication on ‘Confined Spaces in Agriculture’, which explains the dangers associated with confined spaces and sets out practical steps on how to prevent life threatening incidents.
Minister Breen said the exposure to dangerous gases in confined spaces such as in a grain silo, slurry pit or storage tank is a real risk in modern farming.
“Farming is still the most dangerous job in Ireland with an average of 21 deaths a year in workplace incidents and 207 farming fatalities in the last decade (2009-2018). While there have been some improvements with 15 farm related deaths in 2018, every death is one too many, and leads to devastation for the loved ones and communities left behind. I would urge all those involved in working on farms to read the HSA’s new publication and to familiarise themselves with the dangers of working in confined spaces.”
There have been nine deaths in confined spaces on Irish farms in the last five years. On foot of a request from the coroner into one of these fatalities in a bulk storage tank, the HSA compiled this new publication to help farmers identify confined spaces on their farms, and to warn farmers of the possible risks of exposure to dangerous gases in confined spaces.
HSA Chief Executive Officer, Dr Sharon McGuinness, said any confined space on a farm poses a potentially life-threatening hazard but the threat may not be apparent until it’s too late.
“We are very concerned that farmers generally don’t recognise or consider the dangers of confined spaces.
“Confined spaces such as silos, vats, tanks, wells, slurry pits and other enclosed or partly enclosed structures, can very quickly lead to suffocation and death if a person is exposed to dangerous vapours, toxic gases, dust or low oxygen levels.
“The safest approach with any confined space is to avoid going in there in the first place. If work must be done in a confined space, it should only be carried out by trained professionals.
“The message we want people to take away from our exhibit is that these places are not somewhere people should work or children should play,” Dr McGuinness concluded.
With 14 confirmed farm fatalities so far this year, the HSA will be providing live safety demonstrations at the ploughing championship on key issues to help reduce farm fatalities and injuries.
The exhibit area on the HSA Ploughing Stand will feature vehicle safety, machinery safety, quad bike safety, vehicle crush zones, safe tractor use and PTO management. There will also be a major focus on safe working at height and the Order of Malta will enact an emergency services incident response each morning for visitors to the stand.
There will be reminders on how to stay safe on the farm with rolling footage of ‘Survivor Stories’, ‘Livestock Safety’ and ‘Older, Wiser, Safer’ DVDs on view within the marquee. Meanwhile, the Irish Heart Foundation will offer blood pressure and health checks to farmers to help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Copies of the new ‘Confined Spaces in Agriculture’ publication will be freely available at the HSA exhibit at (Block 2, Row 21, Stand 462), or can be downloaded from the HSA website here