Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill removes deadlines for the registration of easement, or, as most people call it, right of way. Under current legislation, certain rights of way had to be registered before 30 November 2021 to avail of a registration scheme. The Bill will remove current statutory deadlines for the registration of rights of way, in particular. The Rural Independent Group welcomes this Bill and will support it. In fact, many Deputies within our group have been calling for the removal of the deadline date to register a right of way, as it was causing a great deal of stress and anxiety in rural communities.

This matter was a cause of great concern for many rural dwellers. If the concerns we relayed to the Government were not acted upon, a large volume of unnecessary court cases to protect rights, which have been enjoyed for generations, would have been taken. Equally, the entire matter had the potential to cause a lot of bitterness between neighbours, expensive legal costs, and additional court backlogs.

I welcome the decision taken by the Government, which essentially means the law applicable to easement and right of ways will largely revert to the common law that applied before the 2009 Act. I welcome the fact that a full time-bound review to identify the most appropriate long-term strategy for rights of way will be undertaken. However, common sense, workability and practicality must be at the heart of any revised solution.

The cost of solicitors to register rights of way is a major concern to people who were ringing my office. They were worried about the cost and how far it would go before they would find out exactly how much it would cost them, and the time it would take to get this done in the courts. The courts are tied up with quite a lot already and do not have the time to deal with these issues as well. The difficulty was always going to be between neighbours who were sometimes friends, which is a massive concern, and relations could have turned very bitter regarding rights of way. It has happened down through the generations. There was a strong possibility that it could happen again. It could have turned out that there were planning issues, and everything could come into play here.

I listened to different Deputies speaking in the Chamber today. A lot of them made an awful lot of sense. Deputy Cathal Crowe mentioned the surrounds of graveyards and no public right of way to old graveyards. That may not be used that often but it can be used sometimes. Even though it is a slightly different issue, the condition of some of those graveyards today is scandalous. It is sad when I think of the number of people who contact me about this. There is one in Castletownbere. The engineer does not seem to be interested in getting someone in there to clean it up. It is sad that hard-working people have lived their life and when they died, their burial place was neglected because it is not a graveyard that is used every day of the week.

On right of ways, we have heard quite a lot about woods and Coillte and forestry. I raised the issue of Ballymartle woods in Cork yesterday, which badly affects the people of Kinsale, Belgooly and Riverstick. I raised it with the Taoiseach, and, in fairness, he cannot come back to me that quickly. Coillte has come back to me and has stated that it will not sell all the land. It intends to sell some of the land. The people of Ballymartle are adamant that those woods will not be sold. We had a situation, about which Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke earlier, in Enniskerry where a sale was stopped. I plead with the Government to step in here. Coillte is a State agency. People use those forests and wooded areas for walks. Green areas and amenities are good for their mental and physical health. I would like Coillte to meet with the people of Ballymartle and allay those fears and, maybe, withdraw the sale of those woods. Perhaps it should consider giving some of the woods to the local community.

I would like to talk about the different walks, including the Sheep's Head walks. I should not name people, but James O'Mahony was probably the first person to mention rural walks and the Sheep's Head Way, which won the best walk in Ireland in 1996. Why would it not have? When one walks the Sheep's Head Way through Kilcrohane and Durrus and looks out across the Mizen and Beara peninsulas, it is as though one is entering into heaven. James O'Mahony led that charge many years ago. He spoke to people when they did not understand what a walkway would be like going through their farm. I made that fabulous walkway along the Sheep's Head Way. We need to commend him and others that are doing so.

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