Sir, – Obviously we need a proper network of hiking trails on publicly owned land (Editorial, December 16th).
However, the insistence by some that they ought to have rights also to trespass on private land derives from a feudal mindset that is part suburban arrogance (the countryside is my plaything), part begrudgery (as we saw in the Lissadell House farce) and part ignorance of the family and personal significance of land to a country person (the urban person will assume that a house and garden are much more “personal” than “mere land”).
Not all ramblers are decent or well-behaved, and no ramblers’ association can guarantee that they will be. Once a trail becomes established or publicised on social media, it’s open season for all ramblers, decent ones and not-so-decent ones alike.
I know of elderly hill farmers who are plagued with aggressive, illegal shooters and anti-social behaviour by delinquent gangs on their land. They see outlying barns and farms in remote areas as a handy no-surveillance alternative to shopping malls. The effect is that old folk and children in isolated areas do not feel safe on their own land.
Further, when I lived in a high-rise flat in Dublin, no doubt it would have been pleasant to have been able to avail of the amenities of the large private walled gardens I walked past in parts of South Dublin. However, you can imagine the (justifiably) outraged reception, both social and legal, had I attempted illegally to march my family over a fence onto a private lawn in Foxrock to have a picnic.
In the area of access to other people’s property and other people’s amenities, it seems that well-heeled suburbanites are happy to play the “property is theft” card, but only when it suits them. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN MacCANN,
Trillick,
Co Tyrone.