The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) have expressed major misgivings on a dramatic increase in the number of walking festivals many of which the organisation maintain have been organised without farmer engagement.
Speaking on this INHFA President Vincent Roddy detailed how “more and more farmers are contacting us regarding walking tours and festivals organised across their lands but, without their consent.”
These walks he added “are being held in several western counties from Donegal to Kerry and in particular Mayo and Connemara”.For many farmers the first time they became aware of these walking festivals is when they see it advertised on social media which Roddy stated “is not just disrespectful but could be illegal.”
With many of the walkers participating on these tours having to pay it is he added “incredible to the point of being contemptuous that the organisers of these tours seem to think that they have a right to make money on the back of someone else’s property and not even have the basic decency to inform the farmers involved and ask their permission.”
Roddy then clarified a common misconception around hill land and in particular commonage. He first stated, “how all hill land is not commonage which is a point that many members of the public don’t understand.”
The second point relates to the legal status of commonage land. This he added “is mis-understood by a lot of people, who think that commonage land is public land. However, the reality is that commonage land is also private land that is held in common by a number of shareholders.”
When we consider this, it is, he continued, “critical that everyone understands that, unless you are a shareholder on these lands or you have been given permission to walk these lands by the shareholders then you are trespassing.”
As hillwalking continues to increase as an activity it is Roddy stressed “vital that members of the public recognise that their leisure activity is being accommodated on the back of farmer goodwill which should not be taken for granted. But unfortunately, when tour groups organise walks without farmer consent then they are compromising this goodwill, and everyone loses.”
Concluding, the INHFA leader pointed to the upcoming General Election and detailed how public access to our uplands and proposals to CPO lands for Greenways will definitely feature strongly in this election campaign – whenever it is held.