National Ploughing Association Assistant Managing Director, Anna Marie McHugh has dismissed concerns that the National Ploughing Championships could be moving towards cashless-only payments for tickets.
Ms McHugh was speaking to Kieran Cuddihy on Newstalk FM’s show, ‘The Hard Shoulder.’
Irish Rural Association Spokesperson, Jackie Flannery had raised concerns that tickets for this year’s event would only be available with cards.
“Our issue really started when (the issue) was highlighted in Cork County Council,” Ms Flannery said.
“Cashless does not suit a lot of people; people don’t have these phones.”
Ms Flannery said she had been informed that the ticketing department could facilitate people with concerns, by taking cheques or money orders and posting a physical ticket out to those who wish to attend.
But that did not seem to be satisfactory.
“What we’re actually finding is people are very, very put out by all of this,” Ms Flannery said.
“They can’t use their cash, and at the end of the day we’re still using cash as a legal tender.
“It’s a very serious issue, it’s upsetting a lot of people.
“We should be able to use our cash and that’s the big problem.”
In response, Ms McHugh said the ticketing system is part of a new health and safety measure to avoid the championships from hitting capacity.
“If you hit your capacity you have to close the gates and you have to tell people they can’t come in,” she said.
“We actually had consultations with the emergency services… and we were very strongly advised that because of what happened we really should be ticket-only this year and go online ticketing for the event.
“The term that has been used: ‘cashless’ – the association has never said we’re cashless.
“Anyone can come to our door and buy a ticket with cash or a postal order or a cheque.
“If there’s a surplus of tickets on the day, they will be sold by card or by cash.
“We have six gates and at least three of them will have cash as well as card.
“It’s about health and safety measures – we cannot turn people away at the gate because of the traffic plan coming to the event.
“We have over 200 Gardaí involved in the Ploughing Championships and the plan is: there’s a traffic route in and then it’s reversed at lunchtime and the traffic is out.”
Ms McHugh said the general public can not be allowed go to the entrance gates to then be turned away because the event has hit capacity.
“That would be a very, very bad organisational thing to do on our behalf.
“There would be absolute bedlam and chaos.
“The reality is, people can buy their ticket right up until the morning that they’re going to the event.”
Ms McHugh said the Association would welcome a better idea, but “how else can we get a head count?”
“The accusation has come that we are forgetting about the people of rural Ireland.
“We’re bringing in the biggest number of people to any event in the country, and if we’re bringing them to the event, we have to take responsibility for them.
“We have to run an efficient event and the services will insist we run an efficient event.”
Still not satisfied, Ms Flannery insisted: “There is quite a lot of anger out there.
“People do not have the facilities of the cards, they do not have the facilities of the smart phone – they cannot print off their tickets or screenshot the bar code.
“There seems to be a mixed message that’s got out there.
Ms McHugh strongly refuted this, saying: “The message has been clear from day one that it’s tickets online and if there is a surplus of tickets, they will be sold on the gates by cash and card.
“We’ve never had a different message all year.”
When pushed on where the ‘mixed messages’ may have come from, it seemed Ms Flannery and her associates may have been taken in by some dubious, unreliable sources.
For more information and clarification, visit the National Ploughing Championships’ official website.
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