Nearly 1.5 tonnes of fireworks, most of them imported illegally from Asia, were seized from dealers during the National Ploughing Championships in Co Cork over the past three days, the Garda confirmed last night.
Supt Liam Hayes valued the seizures under the Explosive Substances Act at €300,000 and said dealers who had tried to sell them on the site were mainly involved. A number of arrests were made and files sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The superintendent advised parents who found their children had purchased fireworks to take and dispose of them or hand them into the local Garda station.
He said the level of crime at the championships, which were attended by up to 180,000 people this year, was low. Apart from the attempted sale of Hallowe'en fireworks, there had been few arrests and most of those were for minor public order offences.
Managing director of the National Ploughing Association Anna May McHugh expressed satisfaction at the way the event had gone off, despite some initial difficulties.
"I know we had traffic problems on day one but we sorted them out and the people came and they all enjoyed themselves. I apologised for difficulties any one had on Tuesday but we seem to have got it under control," she said.
Ms McHugh said it cost well over €2 million to stage the championships but the NPA was determined to control the size of the event because it was getting too big to handle.
The steel trackway cost more than €250,000 and there were additional costs in supplying water and power. Now, for health and safety reasons, all cables had to be buried underground, increasing the costs.
"We put 860 to 870 stands in here this year and we have a waiting list of regular supporters who come here and there are many who want to get in but sometimes leave it too late to apply," she said.
She was happy to see so many young people this year and she felt the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly around the grounds.
While visitors to the site might not have appreciated the rain, Ms McHugh said it had been wonderful for the ploughing competitors who had needed it to make the ground conditions suitable.
They had said ploughing conditions were excellent.
The 2006 championships, she said, would be held in conjunction with the World Ploughing Championships in Tullow, Co Carlow, next year over four days at the end of September and would run from Wednesday to Saturday inclusive.
"We got the world championships to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NPA and we are very proud of that," she said.
She said 32 countries would be taking part in the world competitions and competitors and supporters from around the globe would be coming to Ireland to take part in the event.