When the smoking ban was heralded, they warned it would be the end. When exorbitant pricing was identified, they warned it would be the end. Yet one of the most dramatic developments in the Irish tourist industry in recent times appeared to have been the collapse in the walking sector, reports Lorna Siggins

The impact of the September 11th, 2001, bombings in the US and restrictions put in place during the foot-and-mouth scare in 2001 have been cited in several official reports as the main reasons for a 41 per cent decline in numbers of walking tourists between 2000 and 2003.

However, uncertainty over access is also regarded as a contributory factor and one which appeared to have been almost intractable.

Until recently, that is. Several developments over the past six months have changed the landscape in relation to the issue, according to the Mountaineering Council of Ireland.

There's the Supreme Court judgment of last January in relation to a cliff fall in Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal, which ruled that occupiers of land were entitled to assume that people engaged in outdoor activities have a "common sense" knowledge of the associated dangers and risks,and will take appropriate measures for their own safety.

This has always been the policy of the Mountaineering Council and it believes the ruling should come as an enormous relief to the farming community.

Then there's the fact that Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív is currently "considering" a proposal by the Irish Farmers Association to pay landowners for maintaining walking routes.

The proposal is not quite simply a "raid on the public purse", as a recent editorial in this newspaper described it. The fact that Helen Lawless and Joss Lynam of the Mountaineering Council have both welcomed it as a "starting point for dialogue" is significant.

Estimated cost of the "countryside walkways management scheme" is €1,000 a year, according to the IFA, plus a payment of €5 a metre of walk. Similar payments would apply to commonage land and the scheme would be available under a five-year contract arrangement at a total cost of €6 million.

Mr Ó Cuív has made it clear that he will not use State money to compensate farmers for access, but is "open" to the idea of payment for maintenance in a system which is "clear and transparent".

Investment in walkways maintained by communities is taking place under the Government's Rural Social Scheme, his spokeswoman pointed out, but it is expected that he will issue a response to the IFA proposal.

Similarly, the Mountaineering Council doesn't favour payment for access, but is not opposed to payment for managing access. "Details would need to be worked through, and it would be necessary to ensure a cap on the amount that any one farmer could draw down," the council's development officer Lawless says.

Lynam regards it as "positive" as "there is now a battlefield on which we can argue". However, he points out that it will be of no benefit to hillwalkers who are not using waymarked routes, as the wider access issue still needs to be addressed.

The Government is about to prepare a countryside recreational strategy, and Comhairle na Tuaithe, the body set up by Ó Cuív, is due to announce a public consultation phase shortly.

A survey published last month by Agri Aware on public attitudes to the access issue may give the Minister - and those groups (not the Mountaineering Council) who have painted all farmers as Luddites in relation to the debate - valuable food for thought.

The Agri Aware survey, which was carried out by Dr Pat Bogue of Broadmore Research, indicates that a majority of an increasingly urbanised public believe farmers' concerns about access to be legitimate.

The survey was conducted over three months and found that more than 77 per cent of respondents were regular walkers, with more than 50 per cent of those from large towns and cities walking regularly on rural roads and in the open countryside.

Only 6 per cent of those surveyed said that they had personal experience of difficulties, while 31 per cent were aware of issues that other walkers had encountered over the previous 12 months. A majority of 77 per cent proposed clearer legislation and provision of dedicated walkways as possible solutions.

The survey found that a majority believed that privacy (74 per cent), safety and welfare of animals (85 per cent), negligence and abuse of lands (81 per cent) and liability (92 per cent) were valid concerns held by owners of private land.

Some 79 per cent believed that landowners should permit access to public amenities where there was no alternative route and 90 per cent believed that restricted access should only be permitted when farmers' interests were protected.

Significantly, almost half (48 per cent) said they would pay a nominal charge for access to the countryside and 84 per cent said that the Government should intervene. Curiously, a new report compiled by 12 Leader companies and the Western Development Tourism Programme, with support from the Western Development Commission, doesn't appear to believe access is much of an issue at all.

It starts from the premise that in spite of a recent decline, walking tourism is still a very valuable "product", with €112.7 million spent by overseas walkers in 2003.

The report identifies the average walking tourist as "independent, young to middle-aged, affluent and discerning".

It recommends a national policy framework for walking be drawn up, based on emerging strategies from Fáilte Ireland, the Waymarked Ways Advisory Committee and this new study.

The report also says that regional walking officers and route rangers within respective regions should be recruited, and walking partnerships should be established to implement the national policy, comprising representatives of public, private and community sectors.

A local walking plan for each walk, encompassing development, maintenance, marketing and sales, should be prepared and a walk manager reporting to Leader should be recruited for each local partnership, it says.

John Concannon, chief executive officer of Ireland-West Tourism, says the report is going to be acted upon, with a series of meetings already planned involving the participating Leader groups.

"We're moving beyond access, if you like," he adds. "Actual maintenance and development of walking is critical, and a national policy, within which regions can work, has to be the way to go."

Walking in the West: a Step-by-Step Guide is available from the Western Development Tourism Programme at the Business Innovation Centre, IT Sligo.