The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has said that an increase in the amount of walking festivals in the west of the country is “driving farmer concern”.
The farm organisation said it has “major misgivings” about “a dramatic increase in the number of walking festivals”, many of which the INHFA claims have been organised without farmer engagement.
“More and more farmers are contacting us regarding walking tours and festivals organised across their lands but, without their consent,” Vincent Roddy, the INHFA president, said.
He said that these events are being held in several western coastal counties from Donegal to Kerry.
“For many farmers the first time they became aware of these walking festivals is when they see it advertised on social media,” he added.
Walking festivals
The INHFA president noted that many of the walkers participating on these tours having to pay a fee.
“It is incredible to the point of being contemptuous that the organisers of these tours seem to think that they have a right to make money on the back of someone else’s property and not even have the basic decency to inform the farmers involved and ask their permission,” he said.
Roddy said that there is a “common misconception” around hill land, and in particular commonage.
“All hill land is not commonage, which is a point that many members of the public don’t understand,” he said.
He added that the legal status of commonage land is also misunderstood by a lot of people, “who think that commonage land is public land”.
“However, the reality is that commonage land is also private land that is held in common by a number of shareholders.
“When we consider this, it is critical that everyone understands that, unless you are a shareholder on these lands or you have been given permission to walk these lands by the shareholders then you are trespassing,” he said.
As hillwalking continues to increase as an activity, the INHFA president said it is “vital that members of the public recognise that their leisure activity is being accommodated on the back of farmer goodwill which should not be taken for granted”.
“Unfortunately, when tour groups organise walks without farmer consent then they are compromising this goodwill, and everyone loses,” he added.