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Legislation to protect farmers from claims by hillwalkers who sustain injuries while using their land is to be advanced before the end of the year.
The bill will be introduced by Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring. He told RTE’s This Week programme that the State Claims Agency and not farmers should be responsible for defending cases taken by hillwalkers.
The move has been welcomed by IFA hill chair Flor McCarthy who said it was an issue that greatly concerned landowners. The cost to defend any case that may arise was of particular concern.
McCarthy said: “The minister has pledged to have this in place in 2019 & we would be hopeful that his bill gets cross-party support.”
He also welcomed the plan to double the number of farmers in the Walks Scheme with €2m in additional funding bringing a further 2,000 farmers into the scheme.
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