The Irish Farmers' Association has criticised recommendations on land access as an outrageous assault on property rights and has said it will strongly oppose them.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, Mr Walshe said the expert report, which says there is no case for compensation to landowners, fails to recognise property rights enshrined in the Constitution.
'I believe it's far better that the establishment of walkways are done through negotiation and incentives rather than trying to legislate and end up with confrontation right throughout the country', he said.
He said that every local business in an area where a walkway is developed benefits except the landowner, who gets 'absolutely nothing'. He said the IFA had proposed to the Minister for Agriculture that the landowner would be rewarded for maintaining the walkway to a certain standard.
But the IFA's criticisms have been rejected by Keep Ireland Open, a group campaigning for the right of recreational users to reasonable access to the Irish countryside.
Also on the programme, Albert Smith, Deputy Chair of Keep Ireland Open, claimed that Mr Walshe was being disingenuous about the level of compensation the IFA was calling for.
'We have farmers sitting there demanding more and more public money for the same rights as exist in every other country without the public paying up… We already give farmers €2bn a year, they take 80% of their income from the taxpayer, why should we give them another avalanche of money just for basic civil rights.'
He agreed that farmers should be paid for works carried out by them on walkways, but claimed Ireland would be a 'laughing stock of the world' for paying for access.
