Sir, - We in Keep Ireland Open can readily sympathise with Tim O'Halloran (August 2nd), who describes the barring of Three Castles Head, in West Cork, to himself and other tourists.
Would that Three Castles Head were the only place where walkers and others, the vast majority of whom are responsible persons, are barred access for no good reason. Sugar Loaf mountain, close by in West Cork, Glen Inagh and Kylemore in Galway, Gleniff in Sligo and - above all - Uggool in Mayo are just some of the places where there are access difficulties.
The latter case is notorious: the local landowner blocked a popular local beach by erecting fencing below the high-water mark (and thus on State property). The "response" of Mayo county council was to do nothing for five years and then to declare that it could do nothing because the problem had existed for those five years!
The fact is that in all cases we have documented where there has been a dispute between a local landowner and walkers, no matter how just the walkers' case, the local authorities have done nothing. Surely a case of malign neglect.
Though there have been comparatively few cases of conflict between walkers and landowners so far, there is little to stop any landowner, anywhere, from blocking access, no matter what the circumstances. Add to this the proliferation of fencing in remote moorland, thus impairing access as well as degrading their attractiveness, and we have a looming crisis for activity-based tourism.
Mr O'Halloran mentions the disappointment felt by foreign tourists at the barring at Three Castles Head. Tourists, of course, have the option of taking their holidays elsewhere and of telling their friends that considerably fewer than "a hundred thousand welcomes" awaits them in Ireland. When Government, the tourist boards and local authorities wake up to what is happening around them, we in Keep Ireland Open hope it will not be too late. - Yours, etc.,
David Herman, Keep Ireland Open, Meadow Grove, Dublin 16.