{"id":69339,"date":"2025-09-17T09:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/69339\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T09:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T09:39:10","slug":"the-ploughing-in-pictures-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/69339\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ploughing in pictures \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The sun came out and so did the crowds for the first day of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/national-ploughing-championships\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/national-ploughing-championships\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Ploughing Championships<\/a> in Screggan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/offaly\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/offaly\/\" target=\"_blank\">Co Offaly<\/a> on Tuesday. The event continues on Wednesday and Thursday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Some 78,500 people attended the opening day of the most multigenerational event in Ireland, up 3,000 on last year. Many opted for the first day because the forecast for the rest of the week is for rain showers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Our reporters, photographers and videographers had their wellies on and were out and about mingling with punters and politicians alike. Read Ronan McGreevy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/2025\/09\/17\/national-ploughing-championships-sun-and-crowds-out-for-first-day-of-action-in-screggan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/2025\/09\/17\/national-ploughing-championships-sun-and-crowds-out-for-first-day-of-action-in-screggan\/\">full report here<\/a>. Below is a selection of pictures and videos from Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"President Michael D Higgins at The National Ploughing Championships. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2QNHWD5IIRCGHFZFV2WWKJASNM.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>President Michael D Higgins at The National Ploughing Championships. Photograph: Dan Dennison While attending the Ploughing Championships President Higgins spoke about  Gaza, suggesting Israel should be excluded from the UN. Video: Ronan McGreevy <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"A competitor checks the soil at the horse drawn ploughing competition. Photograph:  Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CWGXNJOI3BGOFF3KOJWZRSAW24.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>A competitor checks the soil at the horse drawn ploughing competition. Photograph:  Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"A young attendee takes a break. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/FQKQTJDOWJGQDJZGDVUZKKQBAE.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>A young attendee takes a break. Photograph: Dan Dennison Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin hugged and exchanged pleasantries when they met at the National Ploughing Championships. Video: Harry McGee <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Gerry King from Co Kerry with his horses competing in the horse&#xA0;ploughing&#xA0;event. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/BXKTZKP5VNAXPCDZJRNM7457PE.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Gerry King from Co Kerry with his horses competing in the horse\u00a0ploughing\u00a0event. Photograph: Dan Dennison Presidential candidates Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin and Heather Humphreys joined the thousands who attended the Ploughing Championships. Video: Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik with Independent Presidential candidate and TD for Galway West, Catherine Connolly. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758101949_181_XD4VKSXNIRCGHFZEU3SDN6QJ3Q.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik with Independent Presidential candidate and TD for Galway West, Catherine Connolly. Photograph: Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Crowds gathered from early on Tuesday for the three-day event. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758101949_586_GJJH6L5M35EUTLORWIUX5B2THI.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Crowds gathered from early on Tuesday for the three-day event. Photograph: Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Attendees compete with their horses in the horse&#xA0;ploughing&#xA0;event. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/YN62AHUOXZGCRKI6JI6OG2YMWU.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Attendees compete with their horses in the horse\u00a0ploughing\u00a0event. Photograph: Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Adam Delaney (9), with Sgt Maureen Neary on the Garda tractor. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/QX33HOSSWRER3JBZ7ZCCGU24ZI.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Adam Delaney (9), with Sgt Maureen Neary on the Garda tractor. Photograph: Dan Dennison <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Fianna F&#xE1;il presidential candidate and former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin meets attendees. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DSVJ3LA4R5GO5KL7F7J2L6P32U.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Fianna F\u00e1il presidential candidate and former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin meets attendees. Photograph: Dan Dennison Heather Humphreys and Jim Gavin hugged and exchanged pleasantries when they met at the National Ploughing Championships. Video: Harry McGee <img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys shares a light moment with attendees. Photograph: Dan Dennison\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SPE7RO6KO5DWXL5XKF7DDFRO2I.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys shares a light moment with attendees. Photograph: Dan Dennison <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun came out and so did the crowds for the first day of the National Ploughing Championships&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,18,13,14,6,555,19,17,9170,19487,11,12,15,16,1874,5,3171,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-69339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-heather-humphreys","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-ivana-bacik","19":"tag-jim-gavin","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-michael-d-higgins","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-offaly","27":"tag-presidential-election","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}