Watch: President Higgins opens National Ploughing Championships
The President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins has said that Ireland should "always be supporting farm families".
Speaking at the opening of the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Co. Offaly this morning (September 16), President Higgins gave a passionate address in front of a large crowd.
The president spoke about a number of key issues in the farming community, including succession and sustainability in rural Ireland, and the importance of the Ploughing Championships.
He said: "People always refer to it now as just simply, are you going to the ploughing? I think that what has been very impressive, is that I see young people, and they're moving with such energy, dressed in their own way.
"Over the last 14 years, it has really confirmed my belief that there is a very profound ethical sense among our young people, interest in science being applied in the right way, but I think we must immediately recognise, all of us, that the National Ploughing Association makes it all possible.
"We would notice even after the 14 years that while different elements that were there some years ago, new elements have continued being added," President Higgins added.
In his address the president highlighted the importance of farmers in our community.
"I've been mentioning young people here. I think it's a great tragedy when you lose members of the rural community towards farm accidents, and I was so pleased that over the years we have been able to put the emphasis on farm safety," President Higgins said.
"There is a huge difference between, actually owning a farm and feeling the earth between your fingers. The plough is a kind of a reminder that we're not all that far from the fields ourselves."
"I think that anyone who is serious about farming as a way of life will be interested in different models of succession being there, and of the state being of practical assistance in that. This is a conversation we must have in Europe," he added.
President Higgins also spoke about farming "as a way of life" for many people in rural Ireland.
He said: "I think what is very clear is that the new technology makes it possible, that because you're living your life in rural Ireland, there should be no reason why you should be missing any of the facilities that are available in towns or in urban settings.
"There’s a big distinction between actually being a farmer and being the owner of a farm in one respect."
"A person who is a farmer knows what is involved in relation to husbandry, what is involved in relation to soils and what is involved in relation to the loss and renewal of nature
"That's a very, very different thing from owning a succession of farms as part of your portfolio. I think there's a hell of a difference," President Higgins added.
