Ó Cuiv walks away from the real issue

FÁILTE Ireland stated recently that the number of walking tourists visiting Ireland over the last decade has decreased by over one-third and that the principal reason is lack of access to the countryside.

In the light of this it is hard to fathom the draft report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution which states that legislation is not needed to assure access.

Admittedly, this is only a leaked version but, unfortunately, it mirrors the statement of the relevant minister, Eamon Ó Cuiv. His initial position in negotiating with the landowners is to state that he has no intention of considering legislation, thus throwing away the only weapon at his disposal in a situation where all the legal rights lie in the landowners’ hands.

Instead both the draft report and the minister suggest that we are to have a voluntary code. How this is supposed to work is beyond me.

It would be more honest of the committee and the minister to admit that they haven’t the stomach to take on the main farming organisations, even though farmers would be asked to make a very small sacrifice, and it would be in the interests of their own communities.

Instead the Government is prepared to sacrifice Irish hillwalking and walking tourism generally.

David Herman,

Meadow Grove,

Churchtown,

Dublin 16.