Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

1.In page 5, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:

"Report on engagement

7. The Minister shall, within 12 months of the passing of this Act, lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas outlining progress in relation to engagement with the Law Reform Commission, the Oireachtas, local authorities and other key stakeholders in

respect of the provisions of this Act and potential further legislative or policy measures in respect of prescriptive easements and rights of way.".

The Minister is aware that I have engaged in this issue over the past 15 months and have been round the Departments on it. Even my own understanding of the issue has really expanded. I started with the very simple idea of "wouldn't it be great if we could link up prescriptive rights of way with public rights of way". I know many people living in rural Ireland who have to use cars because their children would have to walk on a motorway to visit a neighbour. The idea of green networks is reflected in the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action on transport - that this is part of what we need. It is almost a re-imagining of all of those little strands of connectivity in rural Ireland. We could take what were mass paths, cow roads and routes to water and make them things that give independence to family members because we know lots of households have one car and people are almost trapped on an island given road safety concerns. It came from that positive idea and then looking then at the law and realising that we are in danger of not just neglecting to take a step forward but of taking a significant step backwards. I went originally to the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government and tried to look at this in terms of planning because planning and development are where public rights of way sit. It eventually became clear that it is in conveyancing and the Department of Justice, which is why I have been engaging with that Department for the past six months. I thank the departmental officials because they have been really good in engaging, particularly in the past two months around this issue.

I say this in the context of the review because my amendment is looking for a review. I know the Minister has signalled a review so I am unlikely to press my amendment if I can hear more about the review. I wanted to unpack what was planned for the review because I know we have the standard implementation pieces. When we put forward legislation, we know it is not perfect. We are almost going back to the least bad of existing laws to address it but I want to get the Minister's sense on this issue. I acknowledge the conveyancing group within the Law Society, which has been really excellent and has really championed this issue, along with the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the Irish Farmers Journal, which have really pressed the issue. I tried to bring an amendment on a miscellaneous Bill to extend the period of time before the summer but over the summer, the practical effect, that is, the legal confusion that would be created and the extreme pragmatic difficulties people face in registering these rights of way, became so evident that the urgency arose. My comment is not directed at the Minister but I wish that there had been that engagement when the issue was flagged first. This is not in the sense of "I told you so". It is saying that sometimes, backbenchers in Government parties and Opposition Members flag an issue. If we had engaged with it last year, we might be in a position where we were putting forward legislation that would fix all the problems. What we are doing is producing "just in time" legislation that will remove the cliff edge of 30 November and make sure the clock does not reset to zero and that rights of way paths people have walked for generations do not get reset to zero. None of us want to see rocks rolled across paths and fences appearing on 1 December and years of usage being unacknowledged, which is why the Bill is urgent.

This is the context. This is why my amendment relates to the review. This is not a normal situation relating to a review where we introduce a law we think will work completely and we just want to check how it is going. It is in a situation where we have bought time. This legislation is just buying time. There are so many things to be teased out, particularly around foreshore, intersection with public land and questions about profit à prendre- even the phrase is archaic - because the meaning of the phrase is very different now. The amenity people might be accessing might not always be seaweed, turbary rights or access to grazing or water. It might be blackberry picking, access to nature and natural resources or the right to light, which is very important to people so there is a lot there. Again, I focused on rural Ireland, and I acknowledge this issue has been identified, but I think there is a significant constituency in urban Ireland when we even look at the housing estates in the 1950s and 1970s and their back lanes. I will not name any groups but there are groups that are worried about this. If a local brass band accesses a park to rehearse, would it be able to cut across that park because it is the only safe way for children to access the place? In particular, during Covid when so many people have had to seek out these places, particularly in our cities that do not have enough green spaces, the routes to access those spaces of nature, green spaces or shared public spaces have been important for people. What happens in someone's 2 km or 5 km radius has become really pressing for people. It has been a lifeline for people.

The Minister will see that in respect of the review, I am talking about the law and fixing the law. What I am hoping for is for this review can have a slightly wider scope so we are not just addressing past rights and rights acquired over generations but are also building in a vision for the future in terms of rights of way and something that will be fit for purpose and a bit more ambitious about the accessibility, permeability and inclusiveness of our shared island and shared places.