Sir, - Bord Fβilte is at present running an extensive campaign on radio and in the press extolling, among other attractions, the delights of hill walking in Ireland.
Bord Fβilte knows that with a few exceptions (e.g. the small areas covered by national parks), you cannot step off a road or track in Ireland, even onto the most remote bogland, without the possibility of being told, in no uncertain terms, that you should go elsewhere.
We are pleased to acknowledge that the vast majority of farmers allow walkers onto their land. However they have no obligation to do so and with the law as it is, increasing numbers, especially in the west, are withholding consent, probably in the hope of eventually receiving payments from the State or individual walkers. In this, they are enthusiastically supported by the major farm organisations, one of which has even supported a farmer after he had been convicted of assaulting a would-be walker.
All this is in stark contradiction to the trend everywhere else in north-western Europe where landowners have conceded freedom to roam on remote or uncultivated land, with little or no emphasis on compensation.
Bord Fβilte's sole response to this unsatisfactory situation has been to suggest that walkers "negotiate with the landowners concerned"! Well, great. Perhaps they could explain how walkers should go about negotiating when they haven't a legal leg to stand on (so to speak). - Yours, etc.,
David Herman, Keep Ireland Open, Meadow Grove, Dublin 16.