Remembering John Bruton

Sir, – It is not generally known that a farmer, the late John Bruton, was instrumental in the development of amenity walking in Ireland, by initiating the establishment of Ireland’s Waymarked Trails.

In the mid-1970s, as parliamentary secretary in the Department of Education, he became keen on the concept of “Sport for All” then being discussed in the European Economic Community and saw the value of encouraging walking as a healthy recreation.

John used to walk with his brother Richard in the Cotswolds, and, impressed by the network of signed cross-country rights of way there, thought it would be worthwhile adopting a similar idea here.

The Northern Ireland Sports Council had expressed interest in joining up their established Ulster Way with similar routes in the South: at the height of the Troubles, John saw that such cross-Border co-operation would be useful. Through him, a Long-Distance Hiking Routes Committee was established, and the rest is history. Today, more than 300,000 Irish people and 750,000 foreign visitors use our walking trails every year, and, apart from the good health walking promotes, it has become a multimillion tourism earner. – Yours, etc,