FARMERS AND HILL WALKERS

PETER O'NEILL,

PETER O'NEILL,

Sir, - Readers of Sean McConnell's interview with Mr Con Hickey of the Irish Farmers Association (The Irish Times, January 29th) will be aware of the concerns among the farming community arising from the withdrawal of the supplementary access payment formerly in the REPS scheme.

Our council, which represents over 6,000 recreational upland users, is greatly concerned at any threat to walking access in the most beautiful parts of Ireland. We have now been informed by the IFA that it is in discussions with Government Departments to resolve this matter and that there is no threat of a blanket ban on walkers, despite that report.

Our council is very much aware of the difficulties that have arisen in upland areas over the past three decades. Intensive sheep rearing and the fencing of commonage have caused degradation of the upland environment and decline in water quality. Visitors have lost access to fenced areas and the beauty of heather moorlands has been tarnished. All who value the heritage enshrined in our upland districts accept the importance of maintaining a soundly based rural economy. Hill walkers do not seek a depopulated landscape, such as is found in so much of the Scottish highlands.

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It appears to our council that stakeholders and official bodies must devise a radically new approach to the problems of the Irish upland. Already community-based schemes integrating visitor access with rural development are successfully in place in some areas, including Cloghane and Brandon, Co Kerry and Glencolumcille, Co Donegal. In such enterprises agricultural aid needs to be supplemented by other assistance.

In this UN International Year of the Mountains, our council hopes to participate with farm organisations, tourism and leisure interests, semi-State and Government bodies in moving towards an equitable solution to the difficulties of Irish mountain areas. We have met with IFA officers and hope to do so again in the context of such discussions. While we may not concur with Mr Hickey's reported views on access, we welcome his contributions insofar as it calls attention to a situation that requires to be addressed in the interests of all who dwell in or visit our countryside. - Yours, etc.,

PETER O'NEILL,

Mountaineering Council

of Ireland,

Longmile Road,

Dublin 12.