Thousands of people are expected to attend the Tullamore Show today, the biggest one-day agricultural event in the country.

The event is taking place at the Butterfield Estate in Blueball, on the outskirts of Tullamore, and will be officially opened by Tánaiste Simon Harris this afternoon.

Organisers say the show has surpassed all expectations and the number of entries to the event’s competitions across the various sections have exceeded 5,000.

The national livestock show is a chance to display pedigree cattle, considered to be amongst the best in Europe, as well as the very best in horses, poultry and farm produce.

This year’s show sees the return of the Sustainable Livestock Village, which will be powered by Hydrogen, the first for any show or event in Ireland, according to organisers.

There will also be a strong emphasis placed on the role of young farmers in delivering sustainable change, with Macra joining the village for the first time to highlight generational renewal and youth-led innovation.

Although considered a mainly livestock event, the machinery exhibition at the Tullamore Show has grown in recent years and organisers say the machinery listing has increased significantly this year.

Farm safety event to be held at show

There will also be a Farm Safety Live event which has been developed by FRS Co-Op, the Health and Safety Authority and FBD Insurance, in conjunction with the Tullamore Show.

The display will emphasise the importance of safety around farm vehicles, equipment and livestock with a particular focus this year around chainsaw safety.

It follows a notable increase in requests for chainsaw training following the severe storm damage caused by Storm Éowyn earlier this year.

Experts will also provide hands-on demonstrations focusing on tractor driving and power take off safety, the safe use of quads and ATVs, and proper livestock handling.

The show is taking place against a backdrop of proposed CAP reforms which were announced by the EU Commission last month and there is expected to be discussion around that at the show.

Gardaí have issued a traffic management plan ahead of the show with the main N52 closed to through traffic on the day of the event, from the junction at Mucklagh to Blueball.

There are alternative routes for traffic not attending the event.

There will be four large car parks in operation across 240 acres and dedicated routes have been selected leading directly to the car parks.

Over 50,000 people attended the event last year.