Madam, - The Enniskerry Walking Association would like to clarify a few points raised in your Editorial concerning walking routes in Co Wicklow (July 17th).
The failure of Wicklow County Council to adopt a list of protected walking routes is a serious setback to everyone interested in maintaining public access to the countryside. Attempts to block walking routes have escalated steadily since the mid-1980s. Examples in the Enniskerry area include putting up barbed wire, building houses, walls and stables and planting trees across rights of way, as well as ongoing verbal and physical intimidation of walkers.
There are two reasons for this. The first is the buying up of large tracts of farmland and open country by development companies and wealthy individuals who believe blocking access will increase the resale value of their property. Most of the disputes in North Wicklow are caused by this group.
The second is the attempt by the IFA and allied groups to make the Irish taxpayer pay them "compensation" for not blocking traditional walking routes. They are prepared to trample on the rights of other rural dwellers and destroy our walking tourism industry in the belief that the Government will be forced to give in. The failure of Wicklow County Council to stand up to them only encourages this belief.
We accept that some landowners have legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. We would support:
a strengthening of the 1995 occupiers' liability Act to remove any remaining possibility of landowners being unjustly sued;
the passing of by-laws to ban quad bikes from upland areas;
increased powers for wildlife rangers.
We are proposing that Wicklow County Council call a conference of landowners, walking groups, tourism organisations and others on the basis that everybody has a right to be consulted, but nobody has a veto. - Yours, etc.,
NIALL LENOACH, Chairman, Enniskerry Walking Association, Monastery, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.