What good is an invisible right of way?

THE Green Party, unfortunately, has failed in its attempts to have rights of way listed in county development plans (Irish Examiner, December 1).

With the halving in the numbers of walking tourists visiting this country in little over a decade, this was a welcome but tiny first attempt to get us into line with our European neighbours.

However, Mr Ó Cuiv is content to have nebulous ‘rights of way’ that are not shown on maps, not indicated by signposts and not even listed in county development plans.

So who knows where they are? The minister had the effrontery to describe the Green Party’s proposal as “a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Given the modesty of that proposal and the great loss to the country caused by the demise of walking tourism, the minister’s cliché should be reversed: he won’t even use a nut to try to crack a sledgehammer.

Tony Kearns

Killegar

Enniskerry

Co Wicklow