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The US ambassador to Ireland, Kevin O’Malley, is a big fan of the ploughing. He told the Irish Farmers Journal that it epitomises Irish culture.
“This is a very unique event in that the whole nation comes together and participates in this very important part of Ireland’s culture and Ireland’s business,” said O’Malley, whose ancestors come from Westport, Co Mayo. “It’s fun to be here and it’s very encouraging for me to see such skill, such knowledge and such interest in the ploughing.”
The ambassador would not comment on the US presidential election but he said that Obama “has been a very very good president and I think he’s revered in many parts of the world, Ireland being one of those places. I’m very proud that he’s our president.”
Obama appointed O’Malley as ambassador, something he feels ‘very lucky’ about. He compared the ploughing to county fairs in the US.
“In many parts of the United States that have farming we have what are called ‘county fairs’,” O’Malley said. “In my home state of Missouri, which is a very agricultural state, we will have county fairs at each of the counties in the state and it will look just like this but very much smaller. It’s the one thing that Ireland does much bigger than the United States.”
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