Sir, - I refer to the letter from Mr Donal Murphy, general secretary of the ICMSA, which appeared in your issue of September 18th. He suggested that Mr Herman's letter in mid August, about the purpose of Occupiers' Liability Act, was incorrect. It is less incorrect than Mr Murphy's statement.
He writes that the "recreational issue" is in the same category as "visitor". Section 4 of the Act categorically states that the "recreational user" has the same rights only as a "trespasser", that is, that the "occupier" should not injure him/her intentionally, or act with "reckless disregard" for their safety.
The "occupier", it is quite clear, has only a very minimal duty of care for the "recreational user". In case readers should think that as users we are misinterpreting the Act in our own favour, I point out that the IFA pamphlet on the Act, issued to its members, takes exactly the same view as I have stated.
It may be the intention of the ICMSA to restrict the duty of care of its members to "visitors", which they are perfectly entitled to do under Section 5 of the Act but their notices are phrased in such a way as to deter the average walker or tourist. To most walkers, and undoubtedly to all foreign tourists, the word "visitor" simply means someone who wants to enter the land, and the category of "visitor" as defined by the Act. They will assume that the notices which Mr Herman and many others of us have seen, quoting Section 3 of the Act which refers only to the category of "visitors", applies to them as well.
While we have no quarrel with the desire of the ICMSA to restrict its duty of care to the legal minimum (this is the view which we urged on the Law Reform Commission), we would urge it to rephrase its notices. It will then not be misunderstood by recreational users, to whom most farmers have no objection - subject, of course, to non interference with the farmer's privacy and the work of the farm.
Yours, etc.,
Chairman,
The Mountaineering Council of Ireland,
AFAS, House of Sport,
Longmile Road,
Walkinstown,
Dublin 12.