The destruction of a bridge near Templeglantine, Co Limerick, on the abandoned railway line between Rathkeale and Tralee is seen as the latest instalment in a lengthy struggle between landowners and environmentalists over access to the countryside.
The damage to the bridge, which gardai believe was done with a sledgehammer or mechanical digger, has been described as a "sinister development" by the leader of a group which wants to turn the old railway line into a walking and cycling trail.
Mr Liam O'Mahony, chairman of the Great Southern Trail group, said it was "an act of wanton vandalism".
The 53-mile railway line has been closed for about 20 years. After the tracks were taken up in 1987, Mr O'Mahony and others proposed, with the support of Shannon Development and Sustrans, a firm of English consultants, to turn it into a trail.
Over the past few years, at a cost of £25,000, the group completed work on the trail's first phase, linking Ardagh with Newcastle West. But during the summer barricades were erected along the route to try to "sabotage" it, said Mr O'Mahony.
The Great Southern Trail group claims to have overwhelming public support. An opinion survey of 300 people taken at random from the electoral register, of whom 250 completed the questionnaire, found 86 per cent backed the development.
The survey covered the corridor between Ardagh and Abbeyfeale. Of those who owned land along the old railway line, 44 per cent wished to incorporate it into their holdings. They also expressed concerns about privacy, security, trespassing and wandering animals.
But Mr Sean Kennedy, of the Railway Residents' Group, which opposes the trail, said it was not only farmers who are against the scheme. "There's a lot of elderly people living in the old railway cottages who are very frightened of the prospect of not being able to live there if it was opened up."
He cited a survey carried out by his group which showed that 96 per cent of residents who own property along the former railway line objected to the Great Southern Trail. "That's why Limerick County Council and Kerry County Council won't support it."
Mr Kennedy said his group had also received "100 per cent backing" from the IFA and the ICMSA. "Unfortunately, the trail group won't accept that. They think that the trail can be pushed through despite the fact that the people most directly affected are against it."
He disputed the group's contention that the conversion of old railway lines to walking trails was commonplace abroad. "They're certainly not in rural areas like this." The risks were too great, he said. "The two miles they've done between Ardagh and Newcastle West turned out to be a disaster. A one-mile stretch of it was immediately taken over by travellers and local people began complaining about stuff being stolen from them."
It was for this reason, and also to prevent cattle from escaping, that some people had barricaded the route, Mr Kennedy said. However, he denied that they had destroyed the bridge near Templeglantine.