Madam, - In Sean MacConnell's article "The Forbidden Countryside" in your edition of March 1st, Mr Eamon Ó Cuiv, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is quoted as rejecting the idea that any farmers had stopped people walking traditional rights of way and said that in any cases he had examined there had been no right of way in the first place.
The Minister should know that "traditional rights of way" in this country are a myth and that any access to the country that does exist is granted only as a favour by the landowner concerned. Since farming organisations have rarely turned down the opportunity to glean an extra shilling or so from the taxpayer, we now see that favour being increasingly withdrawn and replaced by calls for payment for access.
It is therefore appropriate that the Minister also referred to "the concept of open access to the countryside that has always existed".
That's exactly what it is - a concept - and a convenient excuse for doing nothing.
Don't expect it to mean anything when push comes to shove. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID HERMAN, Meadow Grove, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.