Work is ongoing to explore what may be possible through legislative provisions to protect landowners that provide recreational access to their land, according to the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The public consultation on Ireland’s first ever National Outdoor Recreation Strategy is set to close soon on June 23, having been launched by Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys on June 2.
The consultation is looking for the public’s views on how to improve and develop outdoor amenities such as trails, cycleways, waterways, beaches, mountains, bogs and forests.
The public is also being asked to consider ways to develop activity tourism and outdoor pursuits such as cycling, rock -climbing, kayaking, surfing, wind-surfing, sailing, paragliding and hang-gliding.
Minister Humphreys said that there is “clearly growing interest in the great outdoors amongst all tourists, both domestically and internationally, and we are well-positioned to respond to that demand”.
“Without doubt, outdoor recreation is going to be key to our recovery post-Covid-19,” the minister added.
“A strategy like this will help us re-imagine and revitalise our rural countryside.”
This is the first of a two-stage consultation process. In this first stage, interested stakeholders and individuals are encouraged to share their views on outdoor recreation via an online questionnaire.
‘Getting complicated’
The strategy is being developed in partnership with Comhairle na Tuaithe (The Countryside Council).
Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív previously told Minister Humphreys that the “genesis of setting up Comhairle na Tuaithe and the most urgent problem it faced in its early years was the whole issue of access to farmers’ lands, particularly hill land and mountains”.
He had asked the minister what progress has been made “to build a scheme that recognises the rights of farmers and, on the other hand, gives widespread access to the hills and mountains”.
“We do not need to build the hills or the mountains. They are there. People want to be sure they can access them and that they would be welcome,” the deputy said.
“On the other hand, the farmers want to be assured that there would be no dogs on the hills, fences will not be damaged and the policy of leave no trace will be followed.
“A pilot scheme was set up in 2008. Indemnity was to be given to the farmers against the very off-chance that somebody would try to take a case because they slipped on a rock or something on a mountain.”
Minister Humphreys acknowledged that indemnity “has been a long running issue for farmers in upland areas”, and said that it was “far too complex to provide a blanket indemnity scheme” for.
“We got advice from the Attorney General on it and we [government] would have had to put amendments through several acts. The problem was that it was getting complicated.”
Legislative provisions to protect landowners in the works
In an update this week on the matter, the Department of Rural and Community Development said that there are over 800 trails registered on the National Trails Register – and that “each of these are covered by some form of insurance”.
“In the region of 440 off-road walking trails that travel through private lands are covered by an insurance scheme operated by Sports Ireland Outdoors and co-financed by local authorities and the Department of Rural and Community Development,” a department spokesperson told Agriland.
“The situation for upland areas is more challenging as the terrain does not lend itself to defining trails or to setting design standards.
“The introduction of a state indemnity scheme for upland areas is challenging given the legislative changes that would be required and this matter has been explored by successive governments for over 10 years, without success.
“The objective of such a scheme is to protect landowners that provide recreational access to their land and work is still ongoing to explore what may be possible through legislative provisions.
“In the meantime, and with a view to finding solutions that can provide additional protection to landholders in upland areas, the department is exploring the introduction of an insurance policy, through a private insurance company, to provide public liability cover for private landowners in defined upland areas.
“This would apply on a trial basis in one or two specific areas. Discussions are ongoing on this matter however, once established, this has the potential to offer an alternative solution for Mountain Access Project areas, albeit that the other approaches continue to be explored.”