Ó Cúiv promises great leap forward for walking routes

RURAL Affairs Minister Eamon Ó Cúiv will publish ambitious new plans to resolve the ongoing row over access to the Irish countryside within the next month.

The gist of Mr Ó Cúiv’s recommendations centre around the appointment of walk managers in each major walking and tourism region, a form of ombudsman system to resolve disputes over access, as well as payment for maintenance or leases with land-owners.

Significantly, the recommendations will not include any provisions for compensation for access, a key demand of farming groups, or a universal right to roam, called for by some outdoor recreation groups.

The walk managers will act as local ‘troubleshooters’ resolving disputes between farmers and walkers over access to land and to the countryside, in addition to developing walkways; dealing with questions of fees for pathway maintenance and rights of way; as well as taking on other matters such as inappropriate behaviour, poor parking and littering.

Mr Ó Cúiv hopes that his proposal to deal with the questions of access on a localised and individual basis will overcome some of the major obstacles in the long-running controversy.

For more serious cases, he is proposing an ombudsman or arbitration type system to resolve cases informally. However, this will not prejudice the rights of parties to take their cases to court. He will also ask an expert group to separately examine the thorny question surrounding the possible liability of landowners for walkers who sustain injury on their lands.

The Minister told the Irish Examiner yesterday that he will present his recommendations within the next month to Comhairle na Tuaithe, the body set up in 2003 to find solutions to the access question. All interested parties in the debate — including land-owners, farmers, walkers and recreational bodies — are represented on the Comhairle.

Mr Ó Cúiv said that a lot of problems had emerged because this sector had never been developed in a coherent manner.

He revealed that the annual figures for walkers visiting Ireland from abroad have recovered completely since the slump earlier this decade.

Partly attributing it to Comhairle na Tuaithe, Minister Ó Cúiv said the numbers had moved from a low of 178,000 in 2003 to 415,000 last year — the highest figures for a decade.

In addition, he pointed out that more and more Irish people living in urban areas were taking up walking and other outdoor recreational pursuits.

The initiative comes a week after discussions between Mr Ó Cuív and the IFA on the issue.

The IFA has sought compensation, in return, for access. Mr Ó Cúiv is adamant that this cannot happen, but has no objection to payments for maintenance of walkways by farmers.

He will also float a proposal whereby local community groups can lease or buy a ‘pathway’ off a landowner or farmer to enable access. He said this would be done on a strictly business basis with five-year contracts for leases.

Some of Mr Ó Cúiv’s thinking stems from his visit to New Zealand last year. His recommendations will also include major developments of State land for recreational use, including tracts owned by Coillte, Bord na Móna and Iarnród Éireann.