Trinity bestows highest honour on Laois Queen of the Plough Anna May McHugh

Laois woman and Managing Director of the National Ploughing Championships Anna May McHugh has been conferred with an honorary doctorate at Trinity College Dublin.

The Queen of the Plough received her doctorate alongside the first European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. Human rights campaigner Colm O’Gorman and leading businessman Dr Leonard O’Hagan also received Trinity’s highest honour from Chancellor Dr Mary McAleese at a ceremony conducted in Latin in the historic Public Theatre. 

The event’s Public Orator Dr Anna Chahoud praised the Ballylinan native as a “worthy recipient of countless honours for her seventy years of services rendered to Irish agriculture and culture.” 

“She has peacefully transformed Irish society by fostering its core values and helping recognise the invaluable work of women in a previously male-dominated world,” she added.

Dr Anna May McHugh, with Chancellor Dr Mary McAleese.

Ms McHugh has been Managing Director of the National Ploughing Championships since 1973.

Since that time, the National Ploughing Championships has become Europe’s largest outdoor agricultural trade exhibition, with Anna May acclaimed as the driving force behind the event’s spectacular growth.

Ms McHugh is the Irish Board Member of the World Ploughing Organisation since her appointment in 1997, which saw her become the first woman on the Board.

The Laois woman has led the co-ordination of hosting the World Ploughing Contest on the five occasions it has been held in Ireland. 

Herman Van Rompuy, Anna May McHugh, Colm O’Gorman and Leonard O’Hagan were conferred with honorary doctorates from Chancellor Dr Mary McAleese at a ceremony in Trinity College Dublin on the 14th of June.

Ms McHugh has worked for the National Ploughing Association for almost 70 years, first as a secretary to the founder, then company secretary and finally as managing director. In the 1970s there were 100 exhibitors at the ploughing and 21 counties competing – today the event hosts 300,000 visitors over three days, 1,700 exhibitors on 100 acres and 350 ploughing competitors. 

Anna May has driven its extension to include a tented trade village, a live cultural programme, fashion shows, a craft village, cooking demonstrations, sheep dog trials, equestrian events, an enterprise arena, and other activities. Now after just turning 90, she still runs the multi-million-euro operation from her home. 

As a woman working in a male dominated field, Anna  recalls the early days as being difficult. 

“In the years that I speak about, women were not at the top of organisations as such [and] I remember the days when there were only men folk coming to the Ploughing, and I thought ‘we must do something about that’.” 

It is her involvement that has made the event more inclusive and family friendly. Anna May attributes her success to the team she has around her from ploughing associations right around the country. She has always believed in bringing people along with her and says she would never ask anyone to do something she would not do herself.

In 2024, still at the helm 24 years beyond the national retirement age, she has now also become a beacon for older people as an Age Friendly Ambassador.