Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1363. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the progress made since March 2011 regarding the rollout of the mountain access project and in particular the rollout of the project since August 2015 when the Comhairle na Tuaithe mountain access project toolkit was published in draft form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15991/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Comhairle Na Tuaithe (The Countryside Council) was established in February 2004 as a non-statutory body with a primary focus on the priority areas of:

- access to the countryside,

- developing a countryside code, and

- developing a countryside recreation strategy.

I understand that under a Comhairle na Tuaithe initiative, in 2011, a Mountain Access Scheme to facilitate access to the uplands for hill walking and similar activities was developed in two pilot areas; one at Mount Gable in Connemara and the other in the MacGillycuddy Reeks in Co Kerry.

In order to help progress the Mountain Access Scheme, SLR Consultants with the support of the former Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, South Kerry Development Partnership and Fáilte Ireland, were tasked with assessing the potential for structured permissive access to the MacGillycuddy Reeks uplands and to identify the most appropriate management structure to ensure the sustainable management of the integral environmental and cultural heritage of the Reeks, while providing long term clarity on permissive recreational access to the mountains.

On foot of the recommendations in the SLR report, a management Forum, whose job it was to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the report, was established in the Kerry pilot area in 2014.

Comhairle na Tuaithe also established a Mountain Access Project Steering Group in 2014, which was tasked with reviewing progress in respect of the Mountain Access Pilots, developing signage for Mountain Access Pilot areas, and issues around a National Indemnity Scheme. During this time, tendering took place for the design of a mountain access logo, and mountain access signage and information panels for the two pilot areas, which are now in place.

The Kerry Forum continues to progress and has been very successful in sourcing funding under various programmes including the REDZ Programme in both 2015 and 2016, to carry out an extensive path repair programme and associated training.

I understand that in early 2018, the Forum was also successful in securing funding under the Locally Led Schemes operated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine which will provide a funding stream over the coming three years or so for further path repairs and other works.

As the Deputy is aware, the draft mountain access project toolkit was published in 2015. I believe that this toolkit, along with the learning from the operation of the MacGillycuddy Reeks mountain access management Forum, will inform important elements of my Department’s work as we move forward.