The leading mountaineer, Mr Joss Lynam, has called on the Irish Farmers' Association to call off its threatened closure of rural walks over lack of payment for access.
Mr Lynam, who is vice-chairman of the Irish Uplands Forum, said that he had much sympathy for the farmers and appealed yesterday for a "partnership" approach to the issue of access.
Any closure would hurt those farmers who depended on walkers for tourism income in areas such as west Cork, he said.
Earlier this week the IFA's western committee issued a threat to close some of the waymarked trails from this weekend, following confirmation that the EU would not allow direct payments to be made to farmers in return for access to land.
Farmers on the Sheep's Head Way and some other trails had agreed to open up their property to walks on the understanding that they would receive Supplement 5 of the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) in return.
Mr Lynam said that the National Waymarked Ways Committee recognised that a contract with farmers had effectively been broken and had been lobbying Government for two years for a solution.
The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív, intervened, but negotiations between him and the IFA reached an impasse when the EU ruled against compensation under the revised REPS programme.
"The problem has widened because many farmers who have land that is not on waymarked trails now feel that they are entitled to some incentive for allowing access, given that the increase in the number of walkers has caused problems of vandalism, stock-chasing by dogs, general damage and lack of respect," Mr Lynam said.
Farmers on national network ways were indemnified against claims by recreational users, but this did not extend to other routes.
"There is particular worry about liability given the recent case in Donegal where a woman received €85,000 in damages from a land-owner in a case which seemed directly against the provisions of the Occupiers Liability Act, 1995," Mr Lynam added. There was a strong case for paying for access, given the pressure put on farmers by commercial tour operators.