Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Access to the Countryside Bill 2013 and I commend my colleague, Deputy Robert Dowds, on his pursuit of this important issue. I have very much enjoyed the debate over the past two hours or so. Like Deputy Anthony Lawlor from Johnstown, I represent a rural and urban constituency, but I take issue with his likening the idea of walking in the countryside to walking through somebody's house, going into the kitchen and taking something. That is going too far.

The public should have more access to the lands around them to enjoy the local amenities that every county has to offer, not least County Wicklow, the garden county. Examples include the walks up the Sugar Loaf, the Wicklow Way and, closer to my home, the Bray to Greystones cliff walk. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív mentioned the maintenance of all these walks and I would like to take this opportunity to commend the local authority on its maintenance of the Bray to Greystones cliff walk. It suffers from coastal erosion but the council acts very quickly to ensure the walk is never closed for too long.

It is unfortunate that the issue of access has not been dealt with legislatively, as it could be with this Bill, and has ended up in the courts. The Old Coach Road case was taken by an Enniskerry businessman against the chairman and secretary of the local walking club. The two defendants, Noel Barry and Niall Lenoach, produced maps, guidebooks, county council reports and statements of witnesses who had walked the route as far back as the 1940s - they nearly had to produce the kitchen sink - to support their view that the route was a public right of way. However, the judge ruled that this was insufficient. I understand the costs involved in the case are quite substantial, and it should never have occurred. A proper legislative framework should have been established years ago to address the antiquated laws in this area. The Bill Deputy Robert Dowds has published will do this by providing the public with an orderly method of legal access to recreational lands that are held in various forms of private ownership. It will allow private owners to be fully indemnified from any legal action a member of the public may take against him or her arising from an accident happening on the land, which is very welcome and sensible. By legislating, not only are we preventing costly court cases but we are doing what we are politically obliged to do as legislators.

Furthermore, by ensuring access to the countryside, we would tap a huge economic resource. As other speakers mentioned, walking is a significant form of tourism in Ireland and we should be doing what we reasonably can to facilitate and expand this activity. As Deputy Dowds said, Scotland generates £1.25 billion from nature-based tourism, which by 2015 is projected to account for 22% of its tourism revenue. That was achieved by introducing simplified legislation in 2003. When compared to other countries in northern Europe, Ireland has some of the most restrictive land access laws, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage.

It is not only tourism that could benefit but also the general health of Irish people, as was mentioned. A recent seminar hosted by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland, the Centre of Excellence for Public Health in Queen's University and the HRB Centre for Health and Diet Research in UCC revealed that only one third of Irish people meet the minimum recommended weekly level of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity such as walking. Therefore, facilitating the passage of this Bill would have a multitude of positive effects.

I call for the Access to the Countryside Bill to progress to Final Stage and I would like to see it enacted sooner rather than later. However, I note from the Minister's response that the legislation will not be accepted at this time and that it is being referred to an Oireachtas committee, which I welcome. I would like it to be publicised, for the Oireachtas committee to ask for submissions, for hearings to take place to allow the committee to hear from people who walk, from landowners and from other interested bodies, and for legislation to be published.

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