IFA calls for talks to end row over access to scenic lake

A SENIOR figure within the Irish Farmers’ Association in Waterford is calling for an independent arbitrator to be appointed in an effort to break the deadlock which has resulted in one of the county’s most popular locations becoming inaccessible to the general public.

Six weeks ago picturesque Crotty’s Lake at the foot of the Comeragh Mountains near the village of Rathgormack was declared to be out of bounds by landowner Bernard Cullinane.

Mr Cullinane had become embroiled in a planning dispute with Waterford County Council earlier this year and subsequently decided that access to the lake would no longer be available to the general public and warned that trespassers would be prosecuted.

The withdrawal of a facility which had been in existence for generations provoked strong reaction from many quarters, and while a majority of mountain walkers have respected the landowner’s decision, some have been confrontational in trying to force their way onto the Cullinane land.

Now the chairman of the Rathgormack branch of the IFA, Michael Flynn, has stepped in to try and find a resolution to the impasse. He is calling for the appointment of an independent arbitrator to nip the dispute in the bud.

In support of the Cullinane family, Mr Flynn said they have been unpaid ambassadors for tourism in the area for many years, and they have also supplied water to the town of Carrick-on-Suir free of charge from Crotty’s Lake.

“The Cullinanes have also suffered damage to their fencing and property from some walkers without as much as a euro of compensation being paid to them,” Mr Flynn added.

The Cullinanes welcomed the intervention of the IFA but aren’t at all certain that the county council will show an interest. “If other groups came out in support of the IFA then perhaps the council might take notice,” Mr Cullinane said.

Meanwhile however the deadlock remains, and after many decades the spectacle of hundreds of people trekking along the mountainside is no more.