Minister Calleary attends 2nd National Outdoor Recreation Conference
-
From: Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht
- Published on: 26 June 2025
- Last updated on: 26 June 2025
- Conference is central to the delivery of ‘Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors’, Ireland’s strategy for growing the outdoor recreation sector.
- Minister Calleary also launches guidance booklet developed by Comhairle na Tuaithe (Countryside Council) to support landowners providing access to their land.
The Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary TD, has today (Thursday, 26th June) welcomed over 200 delegates from across the outdoor recreation sector to Ireland’s Second National Outdoor Recreation Conference which took place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Co. Limerick.
The theme of the conference was ‘Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors – Working together to deliver high quality and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities’. The annual conference aims to bring together the key national stakeholders in outdoor recreation to provide networking opportunities, share best practice and inform policy implementation and future policy development. It included a session on responsible behaviour in the outdoors and also heard contributions from some of the trailblazing organisations in the sector.
At the conference, Minister Calleary launched the ‘Recreation in Ireland’s Outdoors’ booklet in line with a commitment in Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors, the National Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2023-2027. The booklet has been developed for landowners who provide recreational access to their lands, and recreational users, and informs them of their rights and obligations.
Speaking at the conference, Minister Calleary stated:
“We all recognise the benefits that can be derived from being active and spending time in the outdoors. Time spent in nature is good for both body and soul. Here in Ireland we are blessed to have, within easy reach, so many wonderful opportunities to be active in nature. With that also comes a responsibility to ensure that we protect our environment by always acting in a responsible way when active in the outdoors.
“At the same time, we also need to be mindful that many of our wonderful trails and walking routes are on private lands. Without the goodwill of landowners we would not have access to many areas of the countryside. It is vital that we all act responsibly, and support and respect the landowners who have allowed access to their lands.
“Today, I am pleased to launch the ‘Recreation in Ireland’s Outdoors’ booklet to support farmers and landowners and facilitate those who access our beautiful countryside do so in a sustainable and responsible manner. This will benefit the landowner, walkers, hikers and tourists alike.”
Opening the conference today Dr Úna May, CEO Sport Ireland said:
“I'm delighted to open the National Outdoor Recreation Conference today in Limerick.
"It's great to be here among so many organisations and individuals that share Sport Ireland's passion for outdoor recreation. In Ireland we're really blessed in having generally accessible and high-quality environments in both urban and rural locations suitable for sport and physical activity.
"We know, from sources like the Irish Sports Monitor survey, that there's growing interest and participation rates in many outdoor sports. Sport Ireland, through our Sport Ireland Outdoors unit, is committed to increasing participation further over the coming years in all forms of sport and physical activity in the outdoors.
"We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to create opportunities for everyone to participate in and enjoy sport and physical activity in the outdoors."
Notes:
Our Rural Future
Our Rural Future is the whole-of-government policy for rural Ireland for the period 2021-2025. It represents a new milestone in the approach to rural development policy for Ireland and adopts a more strategic, ambitious and holistic approach to investing in and maximising opportunities for rural areas.
Comhairle na Tuaithe
Comhairle na Tuaithe (The Countryside Council) is an advisory council established in February 2004 to advise the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht on the development of the sector. It meets four times a year. It is made up of stakeholder representatives from farming organisations, recreational users of the countryside, and state bodies with a responsibility or interest in the countryside.
In June 2019, a new vision and mandate was presented to Comhairle na Tuaithe to reinforce and strengthen its advisory role for the sustainable development of the outdoor recreation sector in Ireland and an independent Chair, Dr Liam Twomey, was appointed.
Embracing Ireland's Outdoors: National Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2023-2027 Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors was launched in November 2022. The strategy was developed in collaboration with Comhairle na Tuaithe and is a collaborative cross-Government, stakeholder-led strategy.
The strategy will lead, guide and facilitate the sustainable development and management of the outdoor recreation sector for the next five years. It also aims to increase participation, to realise social, health and economic benefits. It contains 95 keys action to be delivered by a range of stakeholders over the 5-year period. The delivery of the strategy is being co-led by DRCDG and Sport Ireland.
For more information on the National Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2023-2027 see here.
Recreation in Ireland’s Outdoors
The Recreation in Ireland’s Outdoors booklet has been developed through Comhairle na Tuaithe to provide landowners with an understanding of their position around access and liability. It also provides information for recreational users on their personal responsibility for their own safety.
Every week tens of thousands of people engage in walking and other recreational activities in Ireland’s outdoors. In many cases these activities take place in privately owned lands e.g. many walking trails go through privately owned farmland. Concern amongst landowners that they might be liable if people engaged in recreation activity were injured on their land was one of the factors that prompted the introduction of the Occupiers’ Liability Act in 1995 and the subsequent amendment in July 2023.