Farmer, broadcaster and columnist Darragh McCullough found hundreds of people partying on his property.
A farmer has described the moment that he discovered and broke up a rave that was happening on his land in County Meath.
Broadcaster and columnist Darragh McCullough was checking on his crops when he discovered hundreds of people partying on his farm yesterday (Sunday).
Speaking to RTE he explained how he discovered the rave and how he broke it up:
"Needless to say it was entirely unexpected. We were on the last lap of our harvest, our cereal harvest, and we have one field which is right beside the seaside... We had left it to the very end because we had to get the combine onto the beach at low tide, and of course the crop needs to be ready and the conditions need to be right. So a lot of planets need to align before we’re ready to strike," he said.
"So Monday morning was the morning, and we landed into the field ready to go, with the combine and tractors and trailers and everything else, only to be greeted by a couple of hundred, I reckon, at least a hundred, ravers.
"They were having a great time, it was just the dregs of the party. I should have seen the warning signs, because on my way down to the beach that morning, I got up early because I wanted to make sure there was going to be no cars parked at the entrance of the beach where we need to get the combine through, which is four metres wide. It’s quite an awkward machine and it needs a lot of space.
4/5
THEN THE SHOCKER: got to the field to discover a massive rave with hundreds of people everywhere??? pic.twitter.com/8LtaV9C2Us— Darragh McCullough (@darraghmccullou) September 20, 2020
"When I was driving down the road I saw a group of stragglers at a random bus stop out in the middle of nowhere. I was going, 'where did those guys come out of?’ and I was thinking maybe they were working in the local nursing home.
"They did look a bit worse for wear, I didn’t think too hard about it, and I drove onto the beach car park, and there were about four or five cars already there. This was just after 7am, dawn had literally broken, and I was thinking ‘Mother of God, there’s some people on the ball here fairly early this morning coming out for their exercise’ or whatever," he said.
"Again, thought nothing of it, but of course it was all the stragglers and people who were attending this rave."
Mr McCullough said it seemed like the party was wrapping up by the time he arrived, but there were still about 100 people there. He said that it's likely that even more had attended and left earlier.
"When I literally landed up and I have a video there of when I landed into the site... The music was off, and the guys were already packing away the decks. These guys were set up proper, they had vans, they had decks, they had huge amps and speakers, this was no messing. I guess a degree of the crowd had dispersed as well."
"I mean, I don't know if it was mad or brave or what, but the blood was up a bit. When you land into your field... Actually when I got to the gate of the field there was a couple of lads down at the gate. I thought OK, here’s a couple of lads now who had a good night.
"As I hopped out of my jeep to approach them and tell them to clear off, they turned and headed up the brow of the hill towards the ruin. There’s a ruin in the middle of the field, ideally located for an all-night party, may I add, overlooking the sea.
"When I got up there then, my jaw hit the ground. I thought maybe there’s four, five, six, seven lads who had a good night. But to be greeted by vans, taxis… I didn’t do a head count obviously but there were at least a hundred people there when I got there.
He said he was concerned as he approached them but they agreed to leave without a fuss.
''Basically I said guys this is over, party's over clear off, you've got to get out right now. And they literally did that, they packed up all heir stuff, there was no abuse and no shouting.
''They even had black bin liners and they went around picked up all their cans and beer bottles''.
