Access to walks and beaches impeded by fences, says group

THOUSANDS OF acres of uplands in Co Donegal, Co Kerry and Co Wicklow have been fenced by farmers in compliance with area aid requirements imposed by the Department of Agriculture.

That is according to campaign group Friends of the Irish Environment, which claims the fences block walking trails, and impede access to beaches, hills, lakes and rivers.

The group has written to Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney expressing “urgent and specific concern” at the fencing requirements.

According to the group, department officials have been advising farmers that under the Single Area Payments Scheme and the Rural Environmental Protection schemes 3 and 4, they must erect permanent fencing of their lands to qualify.

The group told Mr Coveney the fencing included lands habitually open to the public for “recreational purposes or as a means of access to seashore, mountain, lake shore, riverbank or other place of natural beauty or recreational utility”.

The group told The Irish Times such fencing also required planning permission. It noted that local authorities in Mayo, Galway and south Dublin had written the requirement for planning permission for such fencing into their development plans. The group said a verbal check with Donegal County Council had revealed “no such planning applications have been received in the last five years”, despite the fact that hundreds of acres there had been fenced off.

The group also said it understood the situation had been exacerbated by the need for farmers to spread additional slurry, which was now being collected through new facilities provided under the Farm Improvement Scheme, 2007-2010.

It was necessary to spread this slurry in a wide area to avoid exceeding limits under the nitrates regulations for nutrient levels on land. Slatted houses, slurry storage tanks, and mobile or specialised slurry spreading equipment were all projects that ranked in the top 10 farm investment structures by grant payments under that scheme.

“Remote parcels of lands are being leased for these purposes from, for example, the State forestry board Coillte Teoranta,” said a spokesman.

Irish Times

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Climbers call on Ó Cuív for access legislation

The Mountaineering Council of Ireland called on the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs yesterday to propose legislation that will provide people with access to private sections of the Irish countryside for recreational purposes.
The call was made after a report on the issue by a legal group set up by the Minister, Éamon Ó Cuív, said "minor interference" with property rights to allow people to enjoy land could be imposed for the benefit of Irish people "without triggering a requirement for compensation".
The report has been sent to Comhairle Na Tuaithe, the countryside council, for it to consider.
"Ireland is alone in Europe in not having access legislation and this expert group clearly sets out a way forward which we hope will be taken up by Minister Ó Cuív," Roger Garland, of the Mountaineering Council of Ireland (MCI), said.
The MCI said farming bodies and landowners should accept that legislation is no threat, but rather "recognition of a modern European view of the sustainable long-term public use of the countryside which is one of this country's most valuable assets".
IFA president Pádraig Walshe regretted the stance taken by the mountaineering council.
"Minister Ó Cuív's expert group is applying a legal solution when consultation and co-operation is the way forward," he said.
Mr Walshe said it was incorrect to say that Comhairle na Tuaithe was moving towards providing a permissive path scheme. "The most recent report said the issues have to be addressed by a range of solutions which must be tailored to specific circumstances," he said.
Fáilte Ireland said 300,000 visitors to Ireland in 2005 intended to go walking or hiking. These people spent €200 million.
Jackie Rumley of Keep Ireland Open said the opening of walkways in Ireland would benefit farmers and their communities.
"When walkers were coming freely to Ireland up to a few years ago they were more likely to return home and buy Irish farm produce because of the good experiences they associated with their time here," he said.

Steven Carroll
© 2007 The Irish Times