Salesian Agricultural College celebrates opening of new hi-tech dairy facility
RETURN TO MY FAMILY ROOTS
Salesian Agricultural College, specialising in training students in agricultural practices, opened its new hi-tech dairy facility on the grounds of their farm in Pallaskenry, Co. Limerick on Friday, 25th March.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue officiated the ceremony where a 50 unit Dairymaster Swiftflo rotary milking parlour was unveiled.
The Minister was accompanied by representatives of the Salesians, the Board of the College, principal Derek O’Donoghue, Teagasc and Dairymaster. Addressing the crowd, Minister McConalogue comments: “The completion of this new facility represents significant investment for the benefit of the future of farming in Ireland. It is great to see an Irish brand such as Dairymaster playing a key role in the dairy tech space and the education of future generations. I’m delighted to be invited here today to see the new facility and all the work that is being done on the ground.”
The Minister also paid tribute to all those involved in delivering this facility during recent difficult and challenging times.
Pallaskenry is steeped in history and has a young, energetic, knowledgeable team with a proud record of students who have gone on to lead and operate some of most modern farms in Ireland.
“The opening of the new facility is part of the growth strategy planned for the college. Numbers are growing year on year and with more attractive facilities the plan is that this trend will continue to increase. The founding tradition of the college is in providing educational training based on real needs and employment opportunities, the economy will once again be calling on the need for food and agricultural education is thankfully in high demand,” said Derek O’Donoghue, Principal of Salesian Agricultural College.
The facility will attract visitors both nationally and internationally to experience a world class education and training facility, always demonstrating the best Ireland has to offer when it comes to Irish agriculture.
John Harty, CEO Dairymaster comments: “We were thrilled that the Salesians and the Board chose Dairymaster as the parlour of choice for their investment. This is an exciting time for students, with access to state-of-the-art facilities to help shape their future to become next generation leaders in agriculture, education, technology and more.”
This is a new and exciting chapter for all members of the Salesian Agricultural College, who have been training farmers for over 100 years. If you are the next generation dairy farm enthusiast, be sure to check out www. salesianag.ie
There is an instinct in all of us which draws us back to our roots, a longing to find links with our forebears and it was this longing which one evening last week drew me to the Holy Well of Tobirin Domhnal near Ballybrowney in the Parish of Rathcormac.
My late Mother’s family had a small farm in Tobairneague, not far from the Holy Well, and it is very likely that they would go to do the rounds there on the Annual Pattern Day. I am most grateful to Maurice Canning who lives at Barnahash near Ballybrowney who took me to the Well which is in a remote glen, we began our walk along a forest clearing with the scent of Honeysuckle, fragrant in the warm evening air, then across a couple of fields, where grazing cows gazed placidly at us.
A light drizzle of rain began to fall as we walked down a steep field which Maurice told me had once been covered with Furze and Heather, then we came on the Glen, stunted trees of Alder and Hazel, and I could hear the soothing sound of running water. We clambered over the last hedge and there was the Well of Tobirin Domhnal, sparkling, clear water bubbled up from an underground spring, over which there is a shrine dedicated to Our Lady, on the overhanging Hawthorn Tree, Rosary beads and Crosses were hung, we both stood for a while in silence, and I began to wonder about how many of my ancestors would have stood in this very same place, a welcome break from their toils in the fields, a haven of peace in the middle of a wind-swept mountain.
I drank a cup of water from the Well, it was like liquid nectar, cool and refreshing and Maurice began to tell me the story of Donal McCarthy, the man after whom the Well is named. Donal Og McCarthy lived between Corrin Mountain and Rathcormac and in his younger days he had been an outstanding athlete, but by the age of forty his poor body had become twisted and crippled, he managed to earn a meagre living by cutting turf on the mountain for himself and for his neighbours, cutting and footing turf is a wearying business, and one day after a strenuous day on the mountain, Donal stopped his labours to rest under the shelter of a Hawthorn tree, smoking his pipe and contented with his mornings work.
The humming of bees and the sweet singing of the birds lulled him to sleep, and he dreamed that a Holy Well was nearby, a Well whose pure, clear waters would cure his tortured body. Donal had the same dream three times, each time he could see the gushing stream surrounded by stunted trees, the dreams made such an impression on him that he went looking for such a well.
After a long search around the moorland, Donal found the well of his dreams exactly as he had imagined it, and even as he looked at the bubbling water, he felt his pains lifted from him and he dropped to his knees in thanksgiving to God. The news of Donals miraculous cure at the well quickly spread around the countryside, and people flocked to drink the water and to pray there. All of these events are recorded in a wonderful poem by Patrick Barry called ‘ The Legend of Tobarin Donal’ in his book, By Bride and Blackwater.
The Well of Tobarin Donal is still a very sacred and holy place, where many people come to pray, and every year it is commemorated by a Pattern Day, when people do the rounds around the Well, it is a place that is very well looked after, and as Maurice and I left it that evening, it was with the promise to return soon to savour once more the peace that is to be found at Tobarin Donal.