Make way for the walker and we will be a healthier country
Foreign tourists and Irish people who have walked and hiked abroad are appalled to find there is almost nowhere to walk in Ireland in comparison to most other countries.
Ireland’s long-distance footpaths (Kerry way, Beara way, etc) are in reality nothing more than old public roads that have been abandoned by the authorities but remain rights of way, together with routes marked across mountains by the occasional post, at the sufferance of the landowner who may restrict access at any time.
In Ireland, there is no such thing as a public footpath, bridlepath or cyclepath, as a legal right of way, such as exist in Britain. These are signposted and maintained by the local authority and protected by law, and any landowner who obstructs them is likely to find himself prosecuted.
These rights of way are clearly marked on maps, and are a veritable network on which one can travel from one end of the country to the other without hardly ever having to walk along a vehicular road.
In Ireland, meanwhile, more and more mountain land is being fenced off and gates and threatening notices erected to discourage access to footpaths which have been in use for time immemorial.
Even the routes to some of the most popular mountain peaks do not exist as recorded statutory rights-of-way and it would fall to an interested individual wealthy enough to dispute in the courts any closure on the basis of historical precedent were the landowner to restrict access.
For tourists to return to Ireland regularly, rather than as a one-off, they need attractions other than driving about and sitting in pubs. The beauty of the Irish countryside and the docile weather make it ideal for hiking, horse-riding and cycling.
We cannot fool tourists for ever with images of empty boreens, old men on bicycles, donkeys and sheep. It is in the interests of the state to encourage walking; the effect of lack of exercise and obesity is a health time-bomb which can only be addressed by providing good walking facilities.
The state has no problem in acquiring land, by fair means or foul, for widening existing roads and building new roads by means of CPOs and ‘negotiation’.
For a mere fraction of a percent of the cost, rights of way could be acquired and cross-country footpaths, bridlepaths and cyclepaths constructed, with the necessary fences, gates, stiles and crossings, as well as paying fair compensation to landowners.
The problems that result from public access to the countryside have been greatly exaggerated by the powerful farming lobby; there is no reason why they should be worse than in other countries where legal access already exists.
There is adequate legislation already in place, including the iniquitous 1986 Act that gives anyone who owns sheep, cattle or horses vigilante powers to shoot dogs willy-nilly.
The IFA’s proposal that landowners be paid for allowing access to their land sounds suspiciously like another scheme to put more public money into the pockets of farmers for doing nothing.
Clearly, the money proposed for ‘maintenance and inconvenience’ will either not be used for such or will require armies of bureaucrats for enforcement, further swelling costs. Traditionally, landowners have been easy-going and sensible but it is no longer enough simply to acknowledge their benevolence: the world is changing.
The Government should introduce legislation for free access to uncultivated land and spend money to acquire the land and rights of way needed to build a network of non-vehicular routes such as exist elsewhere in the EU, enhancing people’s health, happiness and freedom.
God knows, there have been enough unnecessary laws passed to the reverse effect.
Michael Job
Rossnagrena
Glengarriff
Co Cork.
