Madam, -Your Editorial of June 26th on "The Right to Roam" deserved better than to be headlined with one of the three catch phrases that have bedevilled the question of access to the countryside. The others are "Money for Access" and "No Money for Access".
I have spent years, as the Mountaineering Council of Ireland representative on Comhairle na Tuaithe, trying to thread my way between these three apparently irreconcilable simplifications.
The public discussion has centred on access for walkers using paths. True, these form the majority of countryside recreational users, but there are many others, from birdwatchers to rock-climbers.
So there is no one solution. There is a huge difference for a rural landowner between having a busy marked footpath across his or her land and allowing access on moorland and mountain. In a compensation culture where everything has its price, surely it is reasonable for the State to pay a rural landowner (for an agreed term of years) an annual sum for the upkeep of the path and damage to his or her property, coupled with indemnity insurance like that in place on all "National Network Waymarked Ways".
It would have to be carefully phrased so that a "recreational user" cannot become an "invitee", with consequent increase in responsibility for the owner.
As for access on moorland and mountain, I suggest that indemnity insurance might be an acceptable solution. Since there have been no claims made on the National Network policy in the 15 or so years of its existence, the cost should be low.Paths from roads to these areas would be covered as in the previous paragraph.
It is often stated that, since the passing of the Occupiers Liability Act in 1996, and its confirmation by the Supreme Court in the Donegal case, no claim could be successful, but this may underestimate the skill of our lawyers. A farmer put it to me that he might be in worrying uncertainty for several years before the claim was dismissed.
Unlike the writer of your Editorial, I still think that a voluntary system has a chance to be successful.This is what the Mountaineering Council of Ireland hopes will transpire between the concerned parties.But if it does not materialise and be seen to produce results by the next election, the new government will have to resort to legislation - and quickly. - Yours, etc,
JOSS LYNAM, Mountaineering Council of Ireland, House of Sport, Park West Business Park, Dublin 12.