Government plans to roll back on a national indemnity scheme for farmers who have opened their land up for public walks will be looked at “very hard”, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has warned.

The Government has said it will introduce a pilot scheme involving local authorities instead of a national indemnity scheme, but the farm organisation has voiced concerns over this proposal.

“ICMSA will resist any attempts to make the landowner any part of any claims arising from a process that has had the state and various bodies pressurising farmers to give access to our land to others for the purposes of their leisure,” ICMSA president Pat McCormack said.

“As far as we are concerned – and as far as any reasonable interpretation would be concerned – in those circumstances any claim is exclusively a matter between the state and the individual claimant – and just them.”

He said it was important that the Government remained committed to some sort of indemnification scheme for landowners to ensure that farmer goodwill is maintained.

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Government cannot back down on indemnity scheme for farmers – ICMSA

Many farmers are fearful that public walks across their land could lead to insurance claims being made against them.