Benbulben, Co Sligo
Reading Roger Garland’s letter (September 27th) reminded me of an unpleasant incident about 20 years ago.
My wife and I were leading a group of young French walkers in the Sligo area. One day we climbed onto the rough grazing land of the Benbulben plateau, to be confronted by a foul-mouthed, angry farmer telling us in no uncertain terms to clear off.
The French visitors may or may not have visited Ireland again but this type of behaviour hardly encouraged them or their friends. Nor would they be encouraged to know that this could happen anywhere in Ireland, not just in this area.
That was the situation on access to the countryside then and it is the situation now. Nothing has changed.
In stark contrast to other European countries, landowners have absolute rights over their lands, no matter how unused, no matter how remote. With untold damage already caused to our tourism interests (among others) one would expect the State to do something other than sit on its hands. Some hope!
David Herman,
Benllech,
Wales.
FIGHT!
Access to Benbulben (Irish Times letters page)
Previously: Missing Sligo?
Pic: Active Me
At least you’re not bitter you Welsh squealer you! Its only 20 years ago…
Under bare Benbulben
Yeats got laid.
Cast a cold eye on life on death
Horsemen and tourist hillwalkers pass by.
Yeats lies in France
No he doesn’t. Oscar Wilde does.
There are doubts that the remains at Drumcliffe are those of Yeats. Could very well be in France.
then my apologies to the spitee, thought it was Yeats
Spurious doubts were cast in 1966 when the remains of Roger Casement were exhumed from Pentonville Prison and laid to rest in Glasnevin, after a solemn state funeral. Some wags said they were the remains of poisoner Dr. Crippen. Oscar Wilde rests in Cimetière du Père Lachaise in gay Paree, not too far from where the mortal remains of Edith Piaf rest. Nous ne regrettons rien.
Either way – it just said that Yeats got laid there – nothing to do with his grave…
This same letter-writer has written dozens of missives on exactly this topic over the years.
Nonetheless he is quite right. It’s a uniquely Irish combination of:
-Extreme constitutional protection for property rights
-Many small landholdings (legacy of Land Acts)
-EU subsidies for land that would otherwise be unused
Tourism is probably more beneficial economically than farming in many parts of Ireland now.
The Mayo Greenway has been a huge draw for tourists and I believe they are waking up to the idea in other places now too.
The Brits have never really gotten over the fact that we own our own land now.
Your average Brit either doesn’t care or isn’t aware, hun xxx
You don’t have to be a farmer on the top of a mountain to shout at tourists, but it helps.
Worked for Jesus, apparently.
:)
he was a Carpenter tho
waddn’t he?
oh, maybe he was a Shepard
ara I dunno
wasn’t there talk about him been a Healer too at one stage
agreed, the government needs to take the lands back from these uneducated yokels and give it back to the people
umm, is that cos they’re racist?
Yeah…. That worked so well in Nigeria. Let’s do that then.
It’s a bit surprising that someone would act surprised that a man might get territorial over his property. But yeah, there’s certainly a conversation to be had over land rights.
Tell anyone that you own a farm on a mountain.
Some of them will laugh.
Some of them will worry.
One or two might ask you about goats…
…just sayin’…
I’ll never be able to understand people’s indignation at the fact that they cannot do what they want with other people’s property.
Would you let a load of French tourists walk around your back garden?
Why should the farmer, then?
Because there’s a better view?
Except there’s hardly an inch of Ireland that’s not owned. Got the worst public spaces in Europe , and the average Irish farmer wants to look out of his window and see nothing except a Fresian eating Italian ryegrass; no wild animals no trees, nothing. And woe betide you if you should walk on ” his ” road and look over ” his ” hedge , he’ll jump into his poverty stricken 4 X 4 and hare off after you to see what you’re doing. He’ll never mention the fact that his income is coming from the public purse though.
You won’t see any 4 X 4 vehicles on Benbulben. Sheep hill farmers don’t make much money in the west and north-west of Ireland. As a sticker on the rear window of motor cars used to say:
CRIME DOESN’T PAY & NEITHER DOES FARMING.
My back garden isn’t acres of unenclosed wilderness.
Other people’s property we pay them thousands a year in EU social welfare to maintain.
I’m not sure if that is a good enough reason. Should we be allowed to walk through the houses of people who have social housing just because we pay thousands a year in social welfare to maintain them?
I think there needs to be some change to make it easier to access these spaces.
It’s not a reason, it’s a counter-argument. They’re not feudal barons who exist separate and above the rest of us landless peasants. In the 21st century there shouldn’t be a problem with us dispossessed going for a walk across undelineated, uncultivated land because someone inherited a piece of paper saying he is it’s master.
w@nker farmer meats w@nker hill walker.
One of the above or a combination of the two are true.
How does meat come into this?
apologies, that was a typo, spelling is difficult for me
Noted. Won’t kick your bum about it again so…
feel free!
Said the actress to the bishop, wha!?
misanthrope
“meats”? I thought butchery required a licence?
It should be mentioned that almost 2000 landowners are paid by the state to maintain 39 walks around the country. Based upon its success in facilitating access to recreational users it appears that the State will further expand this incentive.
http://www.ruralireland.ie/case-studies/walks-scheme-lighthouse-tooreen-sheeps-head-way/
There’s others where they aren’t paid to maintain walks but do it for a sense of community pride. Depends on the farmer I suppose.
HH Jacket Pass By
‘GERROFF MOI LARNDD’, seems to work overseas.
-Failing that, ‘I haz two dawgs,an wan o’ dem has a shotgun’ usually does the trick.
Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this will work?
Actually, I’m not stupid.
This is all about magic mushrooms, isn’t it?
You’re fooling nobody, so-called ‘farmers’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWLTSPlFP8A
Farmer says noooo
Is there any connection with this letter writer and an objection to the building of a
dwelling near Colaney Co Sligo some years ago, it would seem ironic if an individual
wants to walk on a farmers land, yet opposes the building of a house.
I know said shouty farmer was nicknamed “The Bull”, don’t know if he’s still around. However when David and the French went off hillwalking on Ben Bulben they probably got their information from the tourist office at the time which had an unofficial route map on how to get up the mountain. Nothing was ever agreed with the land owners and The Bull and others understandably got a bit pished off when dozens of wandering tourists plodded through their lands leaving gates open, scattering livestock and scaring them with dogs (why walkers feel their dog needs to go up a mountain is beyond me, leave the mutt at home for once).
Funny how other countries manage.