Why pay landowners for access every year?

THE Government is proposing to pay landowners €12m to €15m a year to allow access for walkers.

The 2,000km of paths proposed, 2.5 metres wide, make 500 hectares. At €10,000 to €20,000 per hectare, this land could be bought for €5m to €10m, leaving millions for surfacing, gates and fencing.

And the next year the State could use those millions to build another 2,000km of paths, and so on, every year.