Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand I am the 20th speaker in this debate which, over a relatively short period, means that about 15% of the entire House has spoken on the subject in three hours. I commend Deputy Robert Dowds on his initiative and on the way in which the Bill has provoked huge interest on all sides. Deputy Anne Ferris asked how we are to go forward. The Government, as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said, proposes to respond to the Bill by suggesting that the relevant committee look at the ideas contained in it. Deputy Ferris suggested that the committee could then invite submissions from interested parties right across the spectrum to see how we can move forward. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, has said he would be happy to appear before the committee to see how progress can be made on all of these issues. That is the Government's approach to the Bill. It is appropriate at this stage that rather than taking the legislative route, the committee, if it is so minded - it is a matter for the committee, not the Government - could initiate a series of meetings on the issue to see what progress an be made.

Having listened to the range of contributions from all sides, I feel that a balance must be struck. Obviously the rights of landowners are one side of the issue and, as Deputy Dowds has already conceded, they have been more than helpful and co-operative in ensuring that people can walk on lands. On the other side are the rights of people who want to walk what is in the collective ownership and is all of our responsibility, the highways and byways.

As Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, I have some knowledge of this area. We have more than 7,500 national monuments all over the country, the great majority of which are in private ownership and on private lands. Even though a monument may be in public ownership under the Act, the actual land upon which the monument rests is in private ownership. As an organisation we depend on landowners to allow members of the public to come and visit these very interesting historic national monuments, the great majority of which do not have site facilities or tearooms because they cannot be provided. There has to be co-operation between the landowner and the Office of Public Works, which has responsibility for maintaining sites such as monastic ruins or any kind of national monument. That co-operation must be obtained. In many cases the key-holders are private landowners or farmers who open the monuments for a number of months in the year in order that the public and tourists can access these wonderful sites, many of which are off the beaten track and away from large urban centres. We depend on that co-operation with landowners and I avail of this opportunity to thank them.

There is a huge opportunity for tourism. People come to this country for all kinds of niche tourism opportunities, including golfing holidays, holidays to see the Irish heritage and recreational walking holidays. We must do everything in our power to ensure the facilities are right, the walkways are in good condition and so on, so that it is clear that we welcome people to come and see this great country.

We are working with our Northern colleagues to see whether we can establish a new route between Downpatrick and Croagh Patrick in Westport. As in the case of the Camino de Santiago in another part of the world, we think there is an opportunity to market such historic routes in this country, North and South. We must do the planning and ensure the facilities are in place.

The Bill before the House is an enormous contribution, and the Government's response, as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, is to see how we can go forward. We think the committee route is best, but we are in the hands of Deputy Dowds.

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