The Dealer was shocked that there was no Minister for Agriculture present at Tullamore Show on Sunday.

There was no sign of Martin Heydon, Michael Healy-Rae or Noel Grealish at the official opening of the show at 12pm and The Dealer didn’t spot them walking around the cattle rings either. An Taoiseach was due to attend what is the largest one-day agricultural show in the country on the day as well, but he too was absent.

Instead, Tánaiste Simon Harris took up the mantle, aided by his own MEPs Nina Carberry and Maria Walsh, and local man, Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen. The lack of a Taoiseach and Minister for Agriculture was not only noted by farmers and showgoers, but by Cowen himself.

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“Can I say before I begin, we’ve no Taoiseach here today unfortunately, he sends his apologies. We’ve no Minister for Agriculture here today unfortunately, he sends his apologies, we have the president of the IFA here, thank God,” Cowen quipped at the launch of the Sustainable Livestock Village.

The Dealer thought it was a massive own goal by the three ministers at the Department as, despite the twin threats of potential CAP budget cuts and the upcoming nitrates derogation renewal, farmers were in fine form on the back of a good year across the dairy and beef sectors in particular.

Why not capitalise on the good form of farmers?, The Dealer found himself asking.

And it was Simon Harris who stole the show, politically at least, on the day on the whole. He rolled out all the buzzwords at the show opening about backing farmers to the hilt in the CAP negotiations, the renewal of the derogation and in the Mercosur deal.

Taking to the stage, he lauded the importance of local shows and rose to the challenge by Irish Shows Association chair Freda Kinnarney to find a bit more moolah for shows going forward.

“I’m in politics long enough at this stage to know that there’s some people that you meet that it’s just easier to give them what they want and Freda is definitely one of those people,” he said, committing to continue to support shows.

Harris managed to get to Tullamore, do a bit of threshing in Moynalty and then go on to Croke Park for the All-Ireland senior camogie final between Galway and the rebels Cork, on the same day.

It was later in the day when The Dealer spotted public expenditure minister Jack Chambers making his rounds, but other than local TDs and councillors, no other ministers made the trip to Tullamore. A missed opportunity.