Ruling will help keep our countryside open

Anyone who enjoys the freedom of the outdoors and appreciates the access to Ireland’s countryside more or less freely given by landowners will have welcomed yesterday’s High Court ruling in which Mr Justice Michael White overturned a circuit court decision to award a hillwalker €40,000 for injuries sustained after a 2013 fall on a boardwalk on the Wicklow Way.

Landowners, especially those generous enough to allow responsible, respectful visitors, will greet the decision with a degree of relief too.

Had the award not been overturned the future of the Wicklow Way, and many other established walking routes across Ireland, would have been brought into question as it was feared that private landowners would withdraw the essential consent needed to allow walkers to cross their lands.