Sir, – John G O'Dwyer states that the lack of access to the Irish countryside "is not the problem" when it comes to attracting walking tourists ("We need to breathe new life into fading tourism in rural areas", Opinion & Analysis, January 22nd). He then goes on to say: "Of course, it would help the development of walking tourism if access to the countryside could be improved".
Talk about wanting it both ways.
His assertion that the closure of more than half the B&Bs around the country is the big problem for would-be hillwalkers is to put the cart before the horse. The B&Bs are closing for a variety of reasons but paramount amongst them is the small number of tourists walking Ireland’s hinterland. Why? Because there is no certainty as to where they can walk.
Nor does Ireland have the networks of paths, and pedestrian bridges or the choice of walking books or established routes to be found in every other European country. Why this lack? Because of uncertainty over access – an uncertainty born of political cowardice and narrow sectional interest.
A succession of governments, including that of self-declared hillwalker Enda Kenny, has continued to make a fetish of extreme property rights over the common good – the good not only of visiting tourists but our own citizens. A modest Bill by Labour backbencher Robert Dowds TD was introduced in the Dáil 20 months ago. It was designed to make establishing rights of public access easier. It is currently breathing its last having been quietly suffocated in the dark recesses of the Fine Gael-dominated Oireachtas environment committee.
Consider that and you will realise how wrong it is for Mr O’Dwyer to claim that legislating for change would be “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut”. After years of the “softly-softly” approach to farmers, it is becoming obvious that only a change in the law will suffice.
The looped walks established with the aid of Failte Ireland around the country are indeed welcome. But they are a tiny fraction of what is needed if we are to open the country for walkers and to make it possible for them, as many of them want to do, to walk from place to place. It is a sobering thought, but the small county of Hereford in England has almost as many free-to-walk miles as the Republic. Meanwhile, the whole of Scotland and most of Wales is open.
As for John O’Dwyer’s assertion that there are virtually no access problems here, Keep Ireland Open has dozens of disputed routes on its books. Close to my home here in the Glencree Valley in Co Wicklow, Dublin’s lungs, I can take him to six disputed long-standing routes within a couple of miles.
Ireland is not open for walking tourists. Until it is, tourism will continue to move to the towns. Or to countries more welcoming to walkers and cyclists. – Yours, etc,
ALBERT SMITH,
Keep Ireland Open,
Glencree, Co Wicklow.