Editing Freedom to roam (section)

====Republic of Ireland====
[[Keep Ireland Open]] is a voluntary campaign organisation with the aim of improving access to the countryside. Journalist [[Fintan O'Toole]] called Irish law "perhaps the most negative and mean-minded regime for walkers in Europe".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/no-freedom-to-roam-the-irish-countryside-1.399796|title=No freedom to roam the Irish countryside|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=Jun 7, 2020}}</ref> Access rights in Ireland have been described as being "the most regressive and restrictive access legislation in Europe. Most of the routes used to reach our mountains, hills, seashores, [[Rivers of Ireland|rivers]] and [[National Monument (Ireland)|national monuments]] pass over private land. In almost all cases, the walker has no right to be there."<ref name="walkingandhikingireland.com" /> The [[List of national parks of the Republic of Ireland|national parks]] are described by Keep Ireland Open as "the only places in Ireland where freedom to roam exists", but they only cover 0.9% of the country. Comhairle na Tuaithe was established by [[Éamon Ó Cuív]], [[Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth|Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs]] in 2004 to mediate between landowners, state agencies and recreational users of the countryside.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.keepirelandopen.org/issues.html|title=Keep Ireland Open|website=www.keepirelandopen.org|access-date=Jun 7, 2020}}</ref>