Madam, - Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Cummunity, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has the gall to include walking as a tourist attraction in Connemara ("Building an attractive tourist trap", Features, July 13th).
The article mentions the enormous income of £1.1 billion a year generated by tourism in the English Lake District, much of which derives from walkers. While we in Keep Ireland Open readily accept that there are great differences between Connemara and the Lake District (the latter is far larger and more accessible, though Connemara is just as scenic), just look at the contrast in the facilities provided for walkers in the two regions.
In the Lake District everything that can be done to attract walking tourists has been done. The infrastructure is there in the form of car-parks, signposts indicating walking routes, footpaths, footbridges and stiles. Excellent maps indicate rights of way and there are large areas where walkers know they can wander freely. There are plenty of guidebooks for walkers.
And Connemara? Except for the tiny National Park around Letterfrack, virtually nothing has been done to facilitate walkers. The absence of any legal framework to allow access to the countryside means that walkers can be turned back by landowners for any reason or none. This is bad enough of itself but it also means that little or no infrastructure can be provided and even authors of guidebooks face the unhappy prospect of having to abandon routes if any local landowner objects.
All these deficiencies stem from the lack of a legal framework. And this stems from the failure of Mr Ó Cuív, the Minister charged with facilitating access to the countryside, to take any effective action to curb the power of landowners. He can try to cajole farmers till the cows come home, but until he challenges them he is wasting his time and depriving Ireland of a profitable source of income. - Yours, etc,
ROGER GARLAND,
Chairman, Keep Ireland Open,
Butterfield Drive,
Dublin 14.