KENNY RAISES HOWTH EAST MOUNTAIN PATHWAY IN COUNTRYSIDE BILL DAIL DEBATE

Posted on June 14, 2013 2:49 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Speaking on the Access to the Countryside Bill 2013

I welcome the Access to the Countryside Bill 2013 which aims to increase the amount of private land that is accessible to the public for recreational activities such as walking, orienteering and cycling. Recreational users of the countryside have few rights. Most legal rights to do with access are on the side of the landowners. The only places in Ireland where freedom to roam exists are the National Parks. Although they include some of the most scenic areas they cover only about 1% of the country.

Walking is by far the largest activity-based form of tourism in Ireland, attracting 743,000 overseas visitors annually. Surveys reveal that the Irish scenery is the second biggest draw for overseas visitors, according to Fáilte Ireland in 2012. In recent years there has been a welcome increase in the numbers of walking tourists coming to Ireland, but it is from a very low base. We estimate that the income from walking tourism is less than a quarter of that of Scotland, a country of similar size, terrain and climate. Foreign walkers, accustomed in their home country to extensive, clearly delineated walking areas, are bewildered when they come here when they find they cannot know for certain where they can or cannot walk.

I am fortunate to be a Deputy for Dublin Bay North, which contains the scenic Howth Head and Peninsula, which contains several walking trails, and which is much enjoyed by walkers and indeed, I have made use of it myself on many occasions over many years, as have the citizens of Dublin and the east coast.

I wish to raise a relevant issue in relation to Howth and the Countryside Bill. Recently the erection of a gate on a traditional walkers' pathway on Howth Head is being challenged by local people. Regular walkers in the area are angry at a decision by Fingal County Council not to take action over the matter. Members of the Howth Pathways group have formally asked their council to reconsider its decision that a recently erected gate, 170m from Heather Cottage on East Mountain, is an exempt development.

The request, by local people, under Section 5 of the Planning and Development Act is the first step in a process which could see An Bord Pleanala being asked to determine whether the gate and piers in an area covered by a special area amenity order are in breach of planning laws. Hill walkers had traditionally enjoyed access to hundreds of acres of heathland at Howth East Mountain, with panoramic views over the Irish Sea. One of these routes links Upper Cliff Road with the cliff walk around Howth Head. About halfway along this route is Heather Cottage, a stone clad, five-bedroom house that was completed by Treasury Holdings in 2004. However, since new residents took possession of the house in late 2010, locals say new fencing and a gate have been put up and signs erected declaring the area to be "private". Howth Pathways group claim the pathway has been planted with daffodils and other non-native species, apparently overlooking a planning ban on non-native species. The walkers say the effect has been to suburbanise the heathland and turn what they see as a traditional pathway into a private access driveway.

In comparison with other Northern European countries, Ireland has very restrictive land access laws. In recent years, Scotland, England and Wales have all relaxed access laws on uncultivated land. The right to roam, based on respect for the countryside, has survived in its purest form in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, giving the opportunity to hike across or camp on another's land. This includes complete right of access to beaches, foreshore, dunes and cliffs. With these rights come responsibilities - an obligation not to harm, disturb, litter nor damage wildlife or crops.

The right of access to private land legislation in Sweden is something unique. Enshrined in Sweden's constitution and enjoyed by everyone who feels like it, the right of public access gives you the right to roam the countryside in Sweden in peace and quiet without someone saying politely "get off my land", unless you clomp all over someone's back garden or trample all over a farmer's cultivated field. Scotland has long had a tradition of access to most land and the Land Reform Act 2003 confirmed this. Walkers have a statutory right of responsible access to all land (similar to Scandinavia) except obviously railway lands, airfields, harbours, quarries, standing crops, gardens, the immediate vicinity of private homes etc. England and Wales have over 225,000km of off-road routes classed as Public Rights of Way, along with numerous other paths - bridle ways, towpaths and disused railways. The UK Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gave walkers right of access to most areas of uncultivated land, about 1.4 million hectares of open country - mountain, moor, heath, down and common, along with National Parks. The Act was bitterly opposed in advance but since implementation there has been barely a murmur of dissent.

In Spain, the Canaries, the Pyrenees and other major mountain areas all have well-developed networks of pathways. There is a right of access to river and canal banks. Spain has an ambitious plan to link the entire country by a network of paths/cycle ways made up of historic pathways, bridleways, drovers' roads, disused railways, old roadways and towpaths.

For example, the GR 99, El Camino Natural del Ebro is a recently opened 1,280km way-marked path along the entire route of the Ebro. In Ireland I want to welcome the Westport to Achill cycleway which runs over a disused railway line, it is now a major tourist attraction in that area.

Ireland is at a competitive disadvantage in attracting overseas visitors - many walking routes are on roads rather than land and a lack of signage leaves tourists confused about where they are allowed to walk. As far as I understand it, it has been the sad experience of walkers and the public in general that local authorities have been ineffective in their handling of right of way and access disputes, and I have given the example of the Howth East Mountain path already. I have not heard of any case where the local authorities taken effective action to help the rights of walkers, no matter how justified a case that a walker may have.

It is important to point out that under this legislation, county councils must consider any potential inconvenience to the occupier of the land when designating land for recreational use. All cultivated land, improved or semi-improved grassland and land surrounding a habitable dwelling is ineligible for designation as access land, and this is on a par with the countries that I referred to earlier.

The purpose of Deputy Dowd's Bill is to provide for the public an orderly method of legal access to recreational lands that are held in various forms of private ownership. The Bill will ensure that private owners, whose land is declared to be access land, are fully indemnified from any legal action that a member of the public may take against them arising from an accident occurring on the land. The Bill is intended to provide legal clarity between the rights of landowners and the general public in the use of land for recreational purposes. I commend this Bill to the House and I thank Deputy Dowds for highlighting this issue, which is of significant importance.