One of the country’s most famous and scenic walks has been permanently shut following an assault on the landowner.
Pat Dunne, who owns the land along the Zig-Zags walking track in Glenamalure along with his family, has decided to shut it down after he was assaulted last Sunday.
The popular route, enjoyed by thousands of people, which is located entirely on private lands, provided access from the base of Carrawaystick Waterfall towards Lugnaquilla which is Wicklow’s highest mountain.
The Zig-Zags was an ‘Agreed Access Route’, facilitated through a formal Permissive Access Agreement between Mr Dunne and County Wicklow Partnership.
First developed in 2007, Mr Dunne was one of the first landowners in the country to permit an agreed access route across his lands.
However, following a physical incident with a hiker the Dunne family have taken the difficult decision to close public access with immediate effect.
Speaking about the closure Mr Dunne said: “I want it known that for the last 16 years we have permitted open access to Lugnaquilla via the Zig-Zags. The track and open mountain lands immediately above are private property.
"The only request in return for open access to our land was that no dogs were brought onto the mountain due to the disturbance they can cause to livestock. It is not an unreasonable request as we have had many instances of sheep being mauled by dogs on the mountain.”
He continued: “However, over the years we have had many instances of verbal abuse with people as they ignored signage asking that dogs were not brought onto our lands. In one case this even resulted in a threat that our house ‘would be burnt down’".
“The final straw came on Sunday at 11.10am when after repeatedly asking a man and a youth accompanying him to not bring their three dogs onto the track, he physically assaulted me, knocking me to the ground, before continuing up the mountain with the dogs.
“It is because of this that we have decided to revoke the permissive access agreement and close the trail to the public with immediate effect.”
The remote valley is the longest of its kind in Ireland and Britain and provides a large amount of walking and hiking trails.
Public support
Rural Recreation Officer with County Wicklow Partnership, Aaron Byrne, said that local development company supported the Dunne family in their decision.
“The success of The Walks Scheme and access routes are evident all over the country and that’s based on cooperation between landowners and recreational users. The actions of this particular individual are completely unacceptable.
“ The closure of the trail will come as a huge blow to all the recreational users who benefitted from the goodwill of the Dunne family and enjoyed access to the mountains through their lands”.
In a statement from Alan Lauder, Chair of Mountaineering Ireland’s Access and Conservation Committee, in response to the closure said: “I am sickened and disheartened that Pat has suffered this assault. He has worked closely with those in the access and recreation community to enable responsible access over his land and by doing so, has helped thousands of people to enjoy the Wicklow Mountains.
“The individual responsible has forced Pat to close this access route and in turn, has affected us all in the hillwalking community. We will support Pat and the Dunne family in recovering from this incident, and we add reassurance that the issues of responsible access, and of dogs in the uplands, will feature at the top of our agenda for action."
Irish Farmer's Association (IFA) president Tim Cullinan said this was a disgraceful attack on a landowner who was one of the first in the country to allow an agreed access route across his lands over 15 years ago.
“The Mountaineering Council has come out strongly and condemned this attack and I want to acknowledge their support for Pat Dunne and his family,” he said.
Mr Cullinan pointed out that this type of incident is a serious setback for the relationship between landowners and recreational users. “Nobody can blame the farmer in question for closing off access when he’s subject to this kind of behaviour."
“Unfortunately, this appeal [to not bring dogs onto the land] was not respected in this case and the situation escalated to the point where Pat Dunne was assaulted. While it was an isolated incident, it does nothing to further cooperation between landowners and recreational users,” he said.
IFA Sheep Chair Kevin Comiskey said IFA’s campaign No Dogs Allowed is now in its third year.
He said this is a critical time of year on sheep farms as lambing is underway. Dog attacks are causing unimaginable suffering for sheep and lambs and huge economic losses for farmers.
Mr Comiskey added dogs should not be allowed in or near farmland and he urged all dog owners to behave in a responsible way and adhere to this.
