Sir, - Brian Farrington (August 3rd) complains about the blocking of access to the Old Head of Kinsale.
He doesn't know the half of it.
The fact is that in Ireland any landowner, on any pretext or none, can block access to the countryside. It matters not a whit whether the land is under rough grazing or even unused, how remote it is or how long walkers have used it, thinking they had a legal right to do so.
They haven't.
Truculent landowners are assured of the full backing of both major farm organisations. They can also rely on the ostrich-like indifference of local authorities, Bord Fβilte and the Department of Tourism. In the case of the Old Head of Kinsale, Cork County Council might have helped matters by including the walk in its list of rights of way.
Mr Farrington probably knows that in Scotland (from which he writes) he has legal rights to walk freely through a wide variety of countryside.
This also applies everywhere else in north-west Europe, where there is reasonable balance between the rights of land owners and recreational users.
We in Ireland will eventually follow in the footsteps of all our neighbours. Let's hope that this will be before a sizeable chunk of our tourist industry has been wiped out. - Yours, etc.,
David Herman, (Keep Ireland Open), Meadow Grove, Dublin 16.