Sir, - The Mountaineering Council of Ireland, the representative body for hill-walkers and climbers in Ireland, does not indulge in campaigns against farmer and landowners. It prefers instead to engage in dialogue and partnership with them and with other countryside interests to resolve countryside degradation and access conflicts.
The MCI has published policies and standards on responsible enjoyment of countryside to which its members and clubs adhere. We are therefore morally and legally entitled to defend access routes where these are denied to open country on behalf of our members and the public.
In Northern Ireland the MCI manages on behalf of all Northern Ireland recreational bodies and users a recently appointed access officer whose main role is to resolve countryside access issues in conjunction with local authorities. This post is funded by the Sports Council of Northern Ireland.
The MCI advocates such a post under the management of the Association of Adventure Sports (AFAS) in the South as a rational process is better than strategies of confrontation between countryside residents and recreational users. MCI is active in establishing countryside partnerships at county and national level to build trust and understanding between countryside owners and users for mutual benefit and to resolve conflicts arising from undesirable developments and access restriction. - Yours, etc., Frank Nugent,Chairman, Mountaineering Council of Ireland,
Longmile Road,
Dublin 12.