A chara, – I was glad to read in your report "Taoiseach opens Mullingar to Athlone cycle way" (October 18th) that Enda Kenny wants a national strategy on walkways and trails. He wishes to see a "throbbing, moving entity with people from all over the world who want to come here".
In my view, as a lifelong rambler and hillwalker, Mr Kenny’s wish is achievable, provided we allow the reasonable and responsible countryside access which is available in other countries. The main beneficiaries would be provincial Ireland and rural communities.
Regrettably, a modest access Bill, introduced some years ago by the Labour Party, still languishes in some Leinster House limbo. – Is mise,
SEÁN O’CUINN,
An Charraig Dhubh,
Baile Átha Cliath.
Sir, – I had to laugh, albeit sardonically, when I read Enda Kenny’s flights of fancy at the opening of a cycleway and heard about the wonderful outdoor facilities we are about to have.
Here in Anglesey there are 200km of excellent coastal path, 1,100km of rights of way across private land, most with appropriate infrastructure (footbridges, stiles, etc), and a short but excellent dedicated cycleway. In short, Anglesey, which is about the same size as Co Dublin, has outdoor facilities not that far off the whole of Ireland.
There are no mountains on Anglesey but on nearby Snowdonia the national park is about the size of the whole of Co Wicklow and has thousands of kilometres of pathways and vast areas where walkers and others have a legal right to walk anywhere they like. All this was provided years, if not decades, ago.
Nor is there anything exceptional about this area. Conditions for outdoor recreation are of the same high standard everywhere in Britain and over most of continental Europe. Ireland is the exception, with minimal infrastructure and every outdoor recreationalist subject to the whim of landowners. Nothing has been done about it, so that our splendid mountain and coastal scenery remains unexploited.
Mr Kenny knows the solution to this infrastructural and legal deficit. Until landowners, primarily farmers, who unfairly dictate access to our countryside are taken on, Ireland will continue to languish at the bottom of the list for recreational users, with obvious consequences for tourism and health. – Yours, etc,
DAVID HERMAN,
Benllech,
Isle of Anglesey,
Wales.