Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this Bill and the opportunity to speak to it. The Labour Party supports this Bill and its provisions, and the Government commitment in some of the communications about this to examine the wider area of rights of way.Before I discuss the matter, I want to speak on behalf of my senatorial colleague, Senator Higgins, who is attending COP26 in Glasgow. She has been very active in pushing for this Bill to be introduced. She was one of the first who realised the rights-of-way abolition would kick in on 30 November. She raised the issues tackled by this Bill this time last year. She identified significant problems arising from it and spoke to three separate Ministers over the past 12 months, namely, the Minister of State with responsibility for heritage, the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and development and the Minister for Justice. She and her Civil Engagement Group colleagues introduced a Bill to extend the provisions by five years. That is a reminder of how Governments sometimes need to listen to points made by the Opposition in order that action can be taken in a timely manner.

This issue has been signalled to the Government repeatedly by stakeholders across society, including the Law Society and the Irish Farmers Association. What we have had, however, was a Government that refused to acknowledge the important issues for people across the country until its hand was forced and a deadline was almost reached. This Bill is being left until the last minute. We could have avoided the need to rush through this legislation to prevent massive legal confusion after 30 November over registering private prescriptive rights of way and protecting rights of way, many of which have been used for generations. This issue affects individuals, families and communities, and it should have been addressed long before now. There are but two weeks until the deadline and there is last-minute, rushed legislation.

If we are to examine the wider issue, we need to consider how private prescriptive rights of way were earned through use over long periods and how they intersect with public rights of way, with a view to creating new rural and urban networks of connectivity. As Senator Garvey said, our rights of way and rights to roam are very different from those in the United Kingdom. It is important that we consider this matter again.

Rights of way present a great opportunity to create green networks. We should bear this in mind in this legislation and local development plans, and we should ensure that we map all existing and new private and public rights of way with a view to creating new networks of connectivity, not only in rural areas but also in urban ones. In an area such as mine, for example, connecting up laneways behind houses and bringing them back to life could be considered. We could create safe walking and cycling routes in our urban environments. In Spain and Portugal, for example, the network of laneways is used for walking and cycling, and initiatives such as the Camino de Santiago have been created as a consequence.

This is also about ensuring permeability in our cities in order that people can be provided with alternative routes where they intersect with public rights of way and create networks of connectivity. I hope the Government commits to considering this as a wider issue. I hope it considers it not just from conveyancing, rural and landowner-rights perspectives but also from connectivity, permeability, transport and environmental perspectives.