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There was a moment of panic minutes before the arrival of European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan for a visit to Teagasc’s Ballyhaise College in Co Cavan on Saturday.
Heavy metal shutters securing the front door of the 300-year-old house hosting the college’s head office wouldn’t budge.
It took a few hefty shoulders from some of the stronger farmer representatives in attendance to open it, just in time for Big Phil to make his big entrance.
On a previous visit to Ballyhaise, The Dealer heard that the bulletproof shutters were installed over 100 years ago by the local landlords and then-owners of the 220ha estate, wary of being shot at by the local partisans of Irish independence. It doesn’t seem that the original plan was to keep European Commissioners out.
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