A farm leader has reacted angrily to a claim by Fáilte Ireland that tourist numbers are falling because of a lack of access to hillwalking routes.
Fáilte Ireland said there had been a dramatic fall in the number of people coming to Ireland for hiking holidays.
It said the problem of access, and the fact that people were taking shorter breaks, had resulted in just 168,000 people visiting Ireland during 2003 for walking holidays, compared to 325,000 in 1999.
However, the president of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association, Malcolm Thompson, said Fáilte Ireland had admitted that all "special interest" tourist groups are down in numbers.
"Farmers cannot be used as a scapegoat for the general decline in tourism. Fáilte Ireland must look within to solve its own problems rather than blame farmers for all its woes," he said.
"ICSA has supported the rights of farmers to stand up and not allow themselves be trampled upon and it is in Fáilte Ireland 's interest to ensure that farmers are always consulted before their lands are used as a free playing pitch by all and sundry," he said.
"For example maps should not depict walking trails where no right of way exists. It is in the interest of all of us to have a harmonious relationship between tourists and landowners," said Mr Thompson.
Last week it was announced that two Co Wicklow An Óige hostels, used generally by walkers, will be closed this year because of a lack of trade. Tourism interests claim the number of walkers coming here has dropped by 30,000 since access problems arose.