Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Dowds should be highly commended for his work and that of his team on the Access to the Countryside Bill 2013. I commend him on the alacrity with which he managed to get legislation on the floor of the Dáil. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and his Department, have responsibility for rural recreation in Ireland. The development of rural recreation and tourism is an issue of great importance for the future of our rural communities, a theme echoed by every speaker in the debate. It has the potential to generate new employment, sustain existing employment, improve the quality of life in our rural areas and give access to the urban community to enjoy rural Ireland. Ireland still has a unique selling point as a country renowned for our green, clean environment and welcoming people. We must protect these assets and develop the reputation of our rural areas as high quality holiday destinations both for Irish and foreign tourists.

We are all aware of the great success that is the great western greenway, a 42 km cycle and walking trail from Westport to Achill that the Taoiseach talks about frequently. The greenway contributes to a projected local economic impact of about €6.3 million per annum, which consists of nearly €2.8 million in spend by overseas visitors and over €3.5 million in spend by domestic visitors. This is the type of sustainable long-term project we should be aiming to replicate. While Deputy Dowds was speaking, Deputy Anne Ferris prompted him to refer to the Wicklow walking paths. It would be remiss of me not to mention Slí Charman in Wexford, a hugely important coastal path that allows access the length of the beautiful Wexford coastline.

It is key that we develop activity-based packages, where tourists can come on walking, cycling, angling and sailing holidays in a countryside setting that has all the facilities and amenities that might be needed by a tourist. The possibilities are endless and support must be made available to those who have the entrepreneurial skills to set up a business or diversify and re-focus their farming enterprise towards the growing tourism market.

There are many benefits to be gained from having a vibrant outdoor recreation sector. Our rural communities can see the economic benefits from increased business for the hospitality sector, shops and other businesses in the locality and it can breathe life into rural communities and towns that have been impacted by the economic downturn. We must not forget the significant health and well-being benefits to getting out there and enjoying the beautiful countryside.

As Deputy Ó Cuív told us, Comhairle na Tuaithe was established in February 2004 with a primary focus on the priority areas of access to the countryside, developing a countryside code and developing a countryside recreation strategy. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government acts as a secretariat for Comhairle na Tuaithe, which meets regularly to discuss matters relating to rural recreation and activity tourism. It is also responsible for the implementation of the priorities of the national countryside recreation strategy. Comhairle na Tuaithe comprises representatives of the farming organisations, recreational users of the countryside and State bodies with an interest in the countryside. From this, the national countryside recreation strategy was published in 2006 and "Leave No Trace" has recently been established as the prevailing code for recreational users of the countryside. Comhairle na Tuaithe provides a valuable forum that brings key stakeholders together and builds trust and co-operation. Access to the countryside, which had proven to be an ongoing issue for private landowners, State landholders, recreational users and tourists alike, has been progressed through the efforts of Comhairle na Tuaithe as outlined by Deputy Ó Cuív. The introduction of the walks scheme and the work of the council is to be commended.

While the organisations represented on Comhairle na Tuaithe have individual views on many of the issues to be determined and progressed, the national countryside recreation strategy reflects the consensus view of its members. The vast majority of private landowners in Ireland willingly allow recreational use of their lands. Co-operation between a range of stakeholders including private landowners, the State, recreation bodies, tourism providers and community interests will always be required so that everyone can enjoy rural areas regardless of whether there is a legal framework in place. Currently, access to the countryside is based on a permissive access regime, whereby private landowners must consent to a trail development or to access by recreational users. Otherwise proposed developments or access agreements cannot progress.

The National Trails Office sets minimum standards for trails and has approximately 620 walking trails listed on the national trails register, the majority of which have been developed inside the past ten years. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government administers the walks scheme, which has 40 trails nationally and over 1,800 landholder participants. This is a great example of co-operation working at its best. The landholder receives an average annual payment of approximately €1,055 for the development, enhancement and maintenance of those sections of trail that traverse their lands. In 2012 payments to landowners amounted to €1.91 million. As Deputy Ó Cuív said, that is for maintenance purposes and not access purposes. It is intended to renew existing contracts with landholders as they fall due.

The primary outcomes from the implementation of the national countryside recreation strategy are the provision of a comprehensive, integrated and adequately resourced, world class recreation product. This will significantly enhance job creation and retention in the sector, boost economic activity and GDP, which benefits directly from expenditure by international tourists and generates significant Exchequer savings through the improved health and well-being of the population. Educational benefits arise from better dissemination of information and improved understanding and appreciation of sensitive habitats will also accrue. The "Leave No Trace" initiative is an excellent example of this.

In order to progress access to upland areas under a mountain access scheme and to facilitate access to private lands for recreation and outdoor activity, an indemnity scheme is required, as speakers have outlined.

The purpose of such a scheme would be to indemnify private landowners against claims from recreational users for injury or damage to property. Currently, fear of litigation is the single biggest inhibitor to facilitating general access to private lands. The Occupiers Liability Act 1995 already provides significant protection to landowners, but the up-front costs of successfully defending a claim can be significant. The fear of that can be a huge disincentive. The difficulties associated with the recovery of costs are also of concern. An indemnity scheme has the potential to unlock that difficulty and to unlock access to additional sites of historic, heritage and scenic importance. In tandem with the development of a State agencies agreement and with the support of the State Claims Agency, this process will also inform the development of a "Visitor Safety in the Countryside" programme to manage health and safety issues and reduce claims across many of the main State agencies with significant lands or properties accessible by the public.

Activity tourism was worth almost €1.1 billion to the Irish economy in 2009: €653 million was generated by overseas markets and €404 million from the domestic market. Britain and mainland Europe are the primary sources of overseas markets for activity tourism, accounting for almost one third of activity tourists. However, the domestic market dominates the sector at 64% of the overall market. It is important to get our own people out to see our countryside and enjoy the health benefits that accrue. Provisional data available from Fáilte Ireland in August 2012 show that over 743,000 overseas visitors engaged in hiking or cross country walking, and in turn spent approximately €649 million while holidaying in Ireland. This represents an increase of some 50,000 visitors on the previous year, which has obvious positive implications for employment within the sector.

Activity tourism is not just confined to overseas visitors. In a recent Fitzpatrick Associates report on the economic value of recreational trails in Ireland, indicative trends show that in excess of 325,000 domestic users visited recreational trails in 2010. Based on an average of 50 visits per recreational user per year, this would result in annual visits to trails in the region of 16.2 million. It is clear from these statistics that rural recreation is an important driver of our economic development. Any changes to access to the countryside might have a negative effect and could have an impact on the income it generates.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, are acutely aware of this and to ensure that they had all the relevant research, opinions and knew the needs of rural areas they established the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas or CEDRA as it has become known, in December 2012. Mr. Pat Spillane is chairperson of CEDRA and his enthusiasm and belief in empowering rural areas to help themselves is driving the work of the Commission. CEDRA is examining all of the issues regarding economic development in rural Ireland and this will inform future policy making to support such development. I have no doubt that the development of the rural recreation sector will be a key element when the final report is published in October.

There is huge potential in the rural recreation sector and, again, Deputy Dowds is to be commended on his work in highlighting that and bringing this Bill before the House. However, the Government believes that the proposal to legislate for access at this juncture is not appropriate. While legislating is a potential solution to this issue, it also has the potential to create a significant body of opposition among landowners. We saw that happen in the past. The current framework of permissive access is working well and there is the strong possibility that attempts to legislate could undermine the good work done to date and give rise, albeit inadvertently, to a campaign to exclude the public from private lands, even to those lands where access has been achieved. Such a campaign could cause significant damage to the nascent activity tourism sector.

The Minister, Deputy Hogan, considers that a wider discussion on the various issues around access to the countryside would be worthwhile. On foot of the initiative of Deputy Dowds, he will write to the Chairman of the environment committee suggesting this and, in particular, draw the committee's attention to the very important ideas contained in this Bill. In addition, the Minister will offer to make himself available to the committee to discuss all the relevant issues in an open forum. I believe this is the best way to advance Deputy Dowds's important work.

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