Pat Walsh’s prayers were answered when he was awarded the tender to cut the grass in Pheonix Park ahead of Pope Francis’s visit this weekend. The farmer and contractor from Swords, Co Dublin made hay on 120ac around the site of the papal mass a few weeks ago.

“[The OPW] brought me around and said here’s where people will be coming through and we mowed out big sections right down to the papal cross. We mowed a huge chunk of it – 80 or 90ac. With the dry year we had it was a light enough crop. But it was a godsend in the year that was in it,” Walsh told the Irish Farmers Journal.

He plans to use some of the hay to feed his 100 sucklers and will sell on the remainder.

His team used three mowers and three rakes and worked over the August bank holiday weekend to clear the 120ac, with another 480ac still to be cut as part of the contract.

“We made 8x4x3 bales because with the round ones people come in and jump on them or roll them around,” he said.

“The deer didn’t cause an issue. In general it was very clean with no ragwort. The OPW showed me the rough patches before we started.”

To secure the tender Walsh said he had to supply a health and safety statement and ensure that his insurance covered him for working in public areas.

He feels it’s fitting that he got the job as his grandfather grazed cattle in the park 50 years ago.