The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has threatened to close some of the most popular walk routes in the west and south-west of the country from this weekend because farmers are not being paid for allowing access.
Following a meeting with the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuiv, on Monday, the farmers' representatives were told they would not receive any money for allowing people on their lands on marked walks opened in the past decade under the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS).
These include the Sheep's Head Walk, the Beara Way, the Miners' Walk and the River Suck Walk, which were created as a result of a £1,500 annual payment to farmers who allowed the walks through their lands.
The problem arose when the REPS was being revised after five years, and the EU would not allow payments to be made to farmers for allowing access to lands.
This was confirmed to an IFA delegation, representing the 300 farmers who are involved in the scheme, by Mr Ó Cuiv, to whom an alternative scheme was put by the farmers.
Mr Con Hickey, chairman of the IFA's western committee, said it appeared that Mr Ó Cuiv was not prepared to operate the alternative scheme, which would have had significant benefits to farmers and the wider rural community.
It appeared to him that the negotiations had been exhausted and that no progress was being made in the Rural Agri Tourism Strategy Group, which had been discussing the issue.
Mr Hickey said that , because of this, public access to walks created under the EU's REPS was under what he termed "serious threat of closure".
"Farmers have kept these walks open for the past two years in expectation that a new scheme would be devised for walks," he said in a statement. "Their patience has now been exhausted, and walks are now likely to close."
Mr Ó Cuiv, who led the negotiations with the IFA, has already made it clear that the concept of open access to the countryside, which has always existed, is fundamental.
He reiterated his statements in the Dáil that any proposal for Exchequer payment to farmers for access would not, in principle, be acceptable.
It was reported earlier this year that a number of companies offering walking holidays had pulled out of the Connemara and Donegal regions because of friction between walking groups and land-owners.
The Green Party has called on Government to set up a forum to discuss access to lands by walkers. The party's tourism spokesman, Mr Paul Gogarty, has called for compensatory payments to be made to the farmers.
The support for payment for the farmers has also come from the veteran mountaineer, Mr Joss Lynam, and many local development and community groups that worked to set up the marked walks over the past 10 years.