An expert group which will consider the issue of access to the countryside for recreational walkers is to be established by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht affairs Eamon Ó Cuív.
Announcing a €3 million package for the development of walks, the Minister said that the number of walkers coming to the country last year had increased following a fall-off in previous years to 280,000 from 259,000 in 2004.
He told a press conference at the National Ploughing Championships that Comhairle na Tuaithe had raised a number of legal issues in its two-and-a-half years of deliberations and had advised that the Law Reform Commission be asked to make recommendations on access.
"To expedite matters I am establishing an expert group, comprising a senior counsel and officials from the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice, Equity and Law Reform and my own department," he said.