Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this legislation and compliment Deputy Dowds on its publication. We should focus on encouraging voluntary uptake of this scheme, rather than taking a compulsory approach to it. This debate gives us an opportunity to make a number of important points. The State is abdicating its responsibility for the development of this sector. It would be irresponsible and wrong to focus on lands in private ownership at a time when the State has not got its act together by providing for public access to public lands. Deputy Dowds put it well in his initial contribution when he made the point that over a long number of years, some access routes have closed over purely because the local authority or State agency that owns or is responsible for them has failed to maintain them, or ensure the legal rights of way - of public access - have been maintained.

Along with over 100 people, I attended a public meeting in Athleague last night regarding a public right of way that has been exhausted because Roscommon County Council has abdicated its responsibility. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, is present because this falls within his brief. I refer to the question of public access to the weir gates in the village of Athleague that control the water level on the River Suck. A legal dispute has been ongoing for many years. As a result of the failure of the local authority to enforce its legal rights in this regard, a hugely valuable public amenity is being undermined. This facility could be used for swimming or angling, or as part of the Suck Valley Way. The exact opposite problem presents itself during the winter months, when the village of Athleague is threatened with flooding as a result of the failure to maintain and operate the weir gates to ensure there is a safe water level at that time of the year. During the summer, we lose a public amenity because the gates are left up. During the winter, the gates are left down and the potential exists for the village of Athleague to be flooded. I ask the Minister of State to pick up the telephone and contact Roscommon County Council to see whether progress can be made in this regard. I know he is not directly responsible for the matter because the Suck Valley drainage committee has a role. Nevertheless, I ask him to use his good offices in the Office of Public Works to help us out.

In this House a couple of weeks ago, I raised with the Minister for Justice and Equality the right of the Land Commission to sanction public access to publicly owned and controlled lands. I gave the particular example of Tarmon Bog outside Castlerea in County Roscommon. A community group in the area has come together to develop a public access walkway with the support of the local walks organiser. The local Leader company is also wholeheartedly behind it. The lands division of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which is based in Cavan, has said that although it is a very worthwhile project, the terms of section 8 of the Irish Land Commission (Dissolution) Act of 1992 mean it is legally unable to give the group consent to develop a walkway over the public lands in question. This issue is not confined to Tarmon Bog in County Roscommon. The Minister, Deputy Deenihan, has not yet realised that no public access is being provided to the vast majority of the bog he has designated as being in public ownership. I ask the Government to examine these issues. It should try to enforce the existing rights regarding public lands in public ownership by giving people rights over such lands before it starts looking to private lands.

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