MAYO TD Michael Ring acknowledged the significance of community spirit, while also highlighting the negative aspects of social media, at the Louisburgh Horse Show dinner dance last Saturday night. The former Minister for Rural and Community Development was responsible for securing funding for over 130 agricultural shows across the country, an initiative he first mentioned at the Louisburgh Show in 2017.

“I saw before the amount of small shows that were actually closing if they had one or two bad years. They were just going out the door and they put a lot of work and effort into running their show,” Ring told The Irish Field afterwards, about his decision to support shows.