South Dublin County Council are considering listing public rights of way in the County.
If you or your club walk in this county the only way that to preserve this right of access in the future is to have the routes listed and mapped. The fact that you have no access problem with a particular route at the moment doesn’t mean that this route will always remain open.
Routes, unless they are listed as public rights of way, can be closed by landowners without their having to give a reason and without notice. Furthermore landowners have the right to summarily eject you.
If you want to preserve your rights for the future you should highlight the route on OS Map 50 and 56 or EWM The Dublin Mountains and send a photocopy to Cllr Francis Duffy 39 Stocking Lane Dublin 14. We strongly recommend that you should use the EWM,
Only those routes which are wholly or partly within the County should be sent.
Notes
1 A right of way must be specific route it cannot be just a vague reference to access to a particular mountain area.
2 A right of way must physically exist to-day. A totally overgrown or developed route cannot be resurrected.
3 You must be able to say that you or your club have used this route either at the present time or up to recently without being physically prevented from so doing. Even if the landowner has erected a Keep Out sign this can still constitute a right of way.
4 Much of the mountain areas in the County belong to Coillteand are open to access under their access Open Forestpolicy. It can’t be assumed that this Policy will continue especially if the company was to be privatised. Also, more and more forestry is being developed by private landowners who certainly don’t have Coillte’s benign attitude to walkers. So, you should include access routes through forestry.
5 County boundaries: South County Dublin is bounded by Dublin City, Fingal, Kildare, Wicklow and Dun Laogaire Rathdown.
The Borders with Wicklow and Kildare are clearly defined on the OS maps but not so the others.
Dublin City boundary is all suburbs
Fingal boundaryseems to follow the Liffey W to the Border with Kildare at Lucan Demesne.
DLR Starting at the Wicklow border on the Military Road( R115) it goes N between KilakeeMtn and GlendooMtn, goes E of CruaghMth and continues N down the Owendower river to Tibradden Car park on R116, then goes N just E of road to Rockbrook then NE under M50, then E along College Rd, then through Marlay Park to Grange rd. The remainder of the boundary till it meets the City boundary is through suburbs.
DEADLINE
Francis will be submitting the first tranche on Sept 20. Others can be added later.
For assistance or further information contact Roger Garland at 01-4934239 or mail to: rogertgarland@gmail.com