We need to follow the UK’s example and open up the countryside to walkers
Consultants are making recommendations as to how to reopen the Cliffs of Moher Walking Trail. A taskforce is looking to reopen the Bray-Greystones Cliff Path.
When will we accept that we need robust legislation to protect and extend access to the countryside for walkers and other recreational users?
We need to learn from the experience of other countries, such as our neighbours in the UK, France and Sweden, to mention but a few.
Those countries demonstrate that it’s perfectly possible to provide access for responsible people while, at the same time, allowing farmers and other landowners to get on with their livelihoods.
I recently visited the Cliffs of Moher with some of my family, having not been there for over 40 years. The barrier blocking access to walkers beside the O’Brien Tower sends out a very unwelcoming message to the hundreds of thousands of tourists and visitors to that location.
It’s time for the politicians to enact legislation guaranteeing access for walkers, as happened in England and Wales.
Robert Dowds, Clondalkin, Dublin