Compulsory purchase and national park land

I AM sure all recreational users welcome the purchase of 1,600 acres (less than 7sq km) of the Guinness estate for incorporation into the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

What I am concerned about is that over e1.7m of public money had to be expended in order to assure public access to a comparatively small area.

In other European countries, at little or no expense to the State, the landowner could have retained this type of barren land with legal rights granted to recreational users.