Comhairle na Tuaithe
Comhairle na Tuaithe was established by Éamon Ó Cuív, TD, Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs in January 2004, following a recommendation to the Minister from the Rural/Agri-Tourism Advisory Group that a countryside council be established.
Comhairle na Tuaithe comprises representatives of the farming organisations, recreational users of the countryside and state bodies with an interest in the countryside.
Since its inception, Comhairle na Tuaithe has focused on the three priority areas of:
- Access to the countryside,
- Developing a countryside code and
- Developing a countryside recreation strategy.
In 2005, Comhairle endorsed the Leave No Trace programme and published a set of access parameters to assist in managing recreational access in the Irish countryside (get pdf here)
In 2006, Comhairle published a National Countryside Recreation Strategy. Comhairle’s work is supported by a Rural Recreation Section within the Department of Community, Equality & Gaeltacht Affairs. MI has been a member of Comhairle since its formation and works closely with the Rural Recreation Section.
In July 2010, Mountaineering Ireland made a submission to the Rural Recreation Section on the implementation of the National Countryside Recreation Strategy. See sub-section to view the submission.