Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire go dtí and Teach and I congratulate her on the birth of her son. I welcome this legislation because if it had not been introduced, we would be going over a cliff at the end of the month. This must be the beginning of moving forward on this matter because as we move through generations and life gets more complicated, the question of rights by long-established usage becomes a vaguer and more difficult concept. The reality is that as long as people agree, we can all keep away from the courts. When people disagree, ultimately the courts are the only place for resolution.

A previous speaker stated we could set up an arbitration board. My understanding is no matter what kind of arrangement like that is put in place, everybody ultimately has a right to go to court. A civil court is the ultimate arbitration board in the State and everybody has the right to go there to defend or vindicate whatever they believe is their right. Unfortunately, people are often more than willing to go to court over property rights and people get very possessive over even small pieces of property. We also see all the time how people can get very possessive where others try to take possession where people have traditionally walked.

As I live in the countryside, I am familiar with the matter. In most places, people could go anywhere as people were fairly easy-going. There were many mass paths and so on. It is interesting to record that in a book written about the Cong area in the 19th century, it was well recorded that local people put up with every kind of hunger, privation and whatever else until somebody happened to close a mass path. It may have been the Guinness family, or in other words, the big house. It is very odd that under a previous owner a similar position arose around Ashford in the present generation, and it just shows how deeply these issues run within communities and so on. Therefore, the idea that the old arrangement was ideal is a rather innocent view of life.

We have experienced in recent times people trying to take possession, perhaps buying a home and not going with local habits, if I can put it that way. They may try to exclude people from going to beaches, piers or other such places. It can become a matter of serious dispute within communities. At the end of the day, those with the deepest pockets are in the best position to fight these matters. The idea of moving forward with the subject of the legislation is therefore very important, and I hope when we pass this very necessary Bill so it will not be mandatory to register these rights of way to hold on to them, the matter will not be left at that. We must deal with the issue and make the process as easy as legally possible. Where people are of different views on rights, I do not foresee that cases will be prevented from winding up in court. I would like to see a Solomon to come up with a plan to achieve that but I cannot see how it would be done. Where there is agreement, the process should be as simple as possible and go straight to the Property Registration Authority. Where there is a dispute there could be dispute resolution but, unfortunately, the courts are the ultimate dispute resolution process.

I real when we started working on rural recreation, this matter came to the fore. Many people were positive about allowing recreational use across land but it took just one objection for people to be blocked from opening a recreational path. There would then be an argument that it had always been used in a particular way and so on. Again, we would be back to the question of whose right would be vindicated; it is an unsatisfactory position.

Following the 2009 and 2011 laws, issues arose as a consequence that may not have been foreseen. I see this as a learning exercise so we can now address all these matters. Every problem should lead to a solution now that some issues have arisen because of the law. I am not talking about those we are doing away with in this legislation, as other issues arose. It is time for us to deal comprehensively with the matter. We must try to establish a clear right that will not be expensive for future generations to vindicate time and again. That was the purpose of the 2009 law but I fully agree that in the end it did not give enough time to people and the process became very complicated.

The idea that it would not be useful for the vast majority of these to be written down, recorded and established is a rather innocent view of the way the modern world has developed. Encouraging people to establish these rights and have them recorded is something we should definitely work towards and seek to implement. I welcome the Bill but I see it as the first step. We must be very clear that this the beginning rather than the end of a journey. This entire complex matter must be addressed comprehensively.

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