Jeremy Smyth, walks development officer, Donegal Co Council
IF I'M IN THE office I'll work nine to half four. I live 10 minutes' walk from work, in Carndonagh, which is just under Malin head at the very top of the county. I met my wife in university in Aberdeen and she's from here. I'm from the Falklands Islands. It was a terrific place to grow up and was where I got my love of the outdoors.
I started this job three years ago. Donegal was the first county council to employ a walks development officer. I was working on a consultancy basis in tourism when it came up, and it was perfect for me. I studied cartography and geography in Oxford and did my masters in environmental science. I'm also a walker.
What we want to do is open up marked paths for walkers, cyclists and, eventually, horse riders, throughout the county.
We want to give people trails that they know they can take without worrying if they are going to run into a farmer who has concerns about them walking on his land.
Many tourists, such as couples or people with kids, arrive in a place and want to go for a walk but don't know where to go and locals don't know where to send them. It's these guys we are targeting.
If I'm in the office I spend much of my day responding to e-mails and queries. We get a lot of community groups with ideas for marked trails and I'll go see each one.
In Donegal we're blessed with old bog roads that are closed to traffic but perfect for walking, so often the proposed trail will include them. If it crosses private land I'll encourage them, as locals, to talk to the landowner.
Meanwhile I'll go back to the office and put together the paperwork and documentation to help them with funding applications for the development.
They may require new gates, fencing and stiles, so there are costs involved. The County Council has a limited budget, but funding may also be available from the Irish Sports Council or Fáilte Ireland.
Interest in marked trails is growing enormously. In times past country people felt safe on tarmac roads for their walking. Now, with the increase in traffic, they don't.
Instead they are rediscovering old mass paths and school paths throughout villages and townlands and looking to redevelop them.
At the moment one of the biggest projects I'm involved in is at Sliabh Liag, the highest sea cliffs in Europe. We think they are more dramatic than the Cliffs of Moher. Around 70,000 people came to see them last year.
I've about 30 projects on the go at any one time and it can be hard to keep everybody happy, but it's a great job. You'd be hard pressed not to love it.
In conversation with Sandra O'Connell