Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Part of the thinking behind the amendment, as I understand it and bearing in mind that I am speaking on behalf of a party colleague, is that the local authority does not have an express obligation to vindicate a right of way. Therefore, would it not be good, whether in the formula of words in the amendment or a Report Stage amendment, to give local authorities the function to vindicate rights? The second part of the amendment, whose wording may not comprise the right way to proceed, proposes that local authorities should be more proactive in seeking to create new rights of way through the appropriate legal mechanisms to ensure access to, for example, monuments and various cultural and natural heritage areas of importance.