Hillwalking could be shut down if farmers are held responsible for fires they have not lit, a national farming group has warned.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA), which represents farmers on designated and environmentally valuable land, issued the warning in response to a recent statement from Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed on illegal fires.
INHFA Mayo chairman Gerry Loftus said minimising public access to land would reduce the fire risk.
"The only sensible action for farmers will be to restrict access to their property which will clearly impact on hill walking".
After gauging the reaction from members nationally, Mr Loftus said he can envisage a situation where no trespassing signs could be erected on land normally used to access walks, trails, rivers and lakes.
"The only way you can try and do that [minimise the fire risk] is keep people off it. It is a situation that nobody wants," he remarked.
Mr Loftus said farmers on marginal land, where incomes tend to be low, have traditionally welcomed walkers and tourists and sought nothing in return.
"They have taken farmers for granted for years as regards the tourism," said Mr Loftus, who argued that farmers appear only to be penalised for their co-operation.
Last Friday Minister Creed had issued a statement warning farmers that they face penalties and possible prosecution if land is illegally burned in the closed season, between 1 March and 31 August.
The Department of Agriculture warned farmers that: "Inclusion of illegally burnt land in the 2018 Basic Payment Scheme application may result in reduced payment and penalties under this scheme and the other area-based schemes." It also advised that "illegal burning can also render the land of your neighbours ineligible for payment."
Mr Loftus said "we have a situation in my own county where farmers have payments held up due to a fire which none of them had anything to do with and where a non-farmer has been convicted of lighting the fire - all be it by accident.
"Unfortunately the farmers are the ones that continue to suffer and while these farmers and others like them need to have their monies paid out, all farmers will now need to assess what public access to their property means."
He claimed there could be implications for a recently extended greenway in Mayo.
"The greenway there is at risk. If that was closed down it might never reopen," he said.
As Mayo INHFA chair, Mr Loftus said he was "very conscious of the impact that this could have on our tourism sector and would hope that the Minister and his officials will see the mistake that this threat is before we get to the point of seeing these hills closed. This however is for the Minister and his officials to decide on."
"If he removes the threat of penalising farmers for fires they have not lit, then this will reassure farmers that they have nothing to fear from the public accessing their land.
"If he doesn't remove this threat, then Minister, it will be you and your advisers that will have closed the hills," Mr Loftus concluded.
