Sir, – The blame game has started on the fallout from the Lissadel court case and the enormous legal costs involved, as evidenced by your article in Saturday's Weekend Review . It needs to be asked if there is a better way of determining whether or not a traditional access route is a public right of way. Two similar court cases have been taken in Glencree, Co Wicklow: again with huge legal costs. Keep Ireland Open believes the only answer is legislation which would provide clear-cut criteria for designation of traditional walkways. A period of years – perhaps seven – of unhindered access should be the criterion. Alternatively, we could adopt the system of Freedom to Roam which obtains in Scotland and the Scandanavian countries.
Ireland is out of line with virtually all European countries in failing to provide certainty about where we can walk. This is major turnoff for our visitors and denies our own people the basic human right of reasonable access to our countryside. Yours, etc,
ROGER GARLAND,
Chairman,
Keep Ireland Open,
Butterfield Drive,
Dublin 14