Trespassing

G0D

HI all,

Just had a question as my legal knowledge is hardly fine tuned (not asking for legal advice, just some more information to educate me!).

We live out in the country, and own quite a bit of land. For the past number of years, the local hunting society (i.e. on horseback with hounds, chasing foxes) often trespass in our fields. We had a run in with them last year and told them under no circumstances are they ever to enter our land without permission again. Hunting is something we strongly oppose, so we would never allow permission for it to take place on our land - fair enough if they do it elsewhere, but it's not something we want taking place on our land.

This year, they sent out written notice that they would be out and about on their hunt "near our area". We wrote back them, said that was fine but under no cirumstances were they to set foot on our property. Lo and behold, yesterday we get a call to say there is a gang of them on horseback in one of our field with all their hounds chasing a fox. The worrying thing is our dog - a Westie - is often out in these fields and rolls around in fox droppings (have to wash the little fecker 2/3 times a week because of it - but it's something a lot of Westies do, it's in their nature). He was out yesterday, covered in the stuff - you can imagine what would happen if the hounds had caught his scent - we had to bring him inside quickly after we got the call.

Is there anything that can be done legal-wise to stop this? We don't have proof of them on our land beyond a few people seeing them, but we do have photos of them on a neighbours land trespassing (we called him and told him, he asked us to take photos of them on his land - something we never thought to do when we saw them on ours). I don't know what his intentions are going forward.

It's very infuriating that these people would just disregard private property, and a written notice to respect that, just to satisfy their little hunt, but for it to endanger our beloved family pet, well we just can't stand for it anymore. Do we have any options?

Thanks

Kevin3

There are laws on trespass on the curtilage of a building but after that it get's a bit hazy. As far as I can see there is no law that prevents persons entering a persons private land for recreational purposes.

There is an option to apply to extinguish a public right of way under the Planning and Development Act, 2000 but I don't know how successful this would be in regards your own situation.

Your best option would be if the horses are substantially damaging the land, substantially damaging any amenity on the land, preventing any person from making reasonable use of that amenity, rendering the land or any amenity on it unsanitary or unsafe or substantially interfering with the land or an amenity on it. If that's the case the gardai could get involved under section 24 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 with powers to move them on or prosecute.

Citizens Information Website

Right of way
There is a distinction in Irish law between public and private rights of way. A public right of way is a person's right of passage along a road or path, even if the road or path is not in public ownership. A private right of way is the right to enter onto private lands, but only for the purposes of gaining access to or exiting from another piece of land.

The rights of walkers and ramblers are specified in the Occupiers' Liability Act 1995, which includes "recreational user" as a category of users of privately-owned lands. Under the Act, a recreational user is a person present on the premises or land of a private citizen, without charge (other than a reasonable charge for parking facilities) for the purposes of engaging in a recreational activity. Under these circumstances, the owner of the land is obliged only to not intentionally injure or harm the recreational user or act with reckless disregard for the recreational user's welfare. This is an important distinction because it removes previous insurance liability concerns, which still apply to an invited visitor onto private land.

Extinguishing public rights of way
Under the Roads Act 1993, it is the responsibility of local authorities around Ireland to protect the public's right to access public rights of way in each local authority area.

However, under the Planning and Development Act 2000, the owner of private land can apply to his or her local authority to have the public right of way removed from a part of his of her land. Typically, this would occur if the owner wished to develop his or her property in a way that would affect access to it by the public. In these circumstances, the local authority has the power to recover the costs involved with closing a part of land off from public access from the landowner.

Before a public right of way can be removed, the local authority is required to place a notice on the land detailing the proposed extinguishment of the right of way and must also place advertisements in local newspapers publicising the proposed change for at least 14 days. Both the notice and the advertisements must give details of where and when the proposed changes will take place and give leave for citizens to appeal the extinguishment in writing. The local authority may choose to give a person opposing the change an oral hearing. The local authority reserves the right of judgement over appeals to extinguishments of public rights of way, however, it must publish the decision to extinguish the public right of way as soon as it has been decided to do so and must also inform any persons who objected in writing to notify them of the its decision.

Respecting private landowners' property
Although it is not a legal requirement, walking, rambling and mountaineering associations all advise their members and members of the public to take due care when availing of their right to use private land for recreational purposes. . The conservation of the local environment and avoiding causing disturbance to on-site activities such as farming should be considered by all walkers and visitors to the countryside. Copies of an agreed Country Code are available from the Irish Farmers association.

Section 24 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 added new rules governing criminal trespass to the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. It is now a criminal offence for anyone to enter, occupy or bring anything onto privately owned land or land owned by local authorities if that act is likely to

Substantially damage the land
Substantially damage any amenity on the land or prevent any person from making reasonable use of that amenity
Render the land or any amenity on it unsanitary or unsafe
Substantially interfere with the land or an amenity on it.
If a landowner believes that someone is illegally occupying his or her land to the extent of committing one of the above offences, he or she should inform the Garda Siochana. The Garda Siochana are then empowered to visit the land, and if they find any person on the land, they can demand that the person gives them his or her name and address and that he or she removes himself/herself and any objects under his or her control from the land. If the person refuses to comply with a Garda's directions, that person is liable to prosecution. A person who is convicted of one of these criminal trespass offences is liable to a fine of up to 3,000 euro, one month's imprisonment or both. If a person does not co-operate with the Garda Siochana when asked to leave the land, any objects brought upon the land can be seized and stored by the Garda Siochana. These objects can be subsequently sold or disposed of by the Garda Siochana if the owner of the objects does not reply in writing to an official notice that the object has been seized within one month of receiving that notice. The person must also agree to pay the Garda Siochana for any reasonable expense incurred as a result of seizing and storing the object before being allowed to reclaim it.

Marcusm

It's very interesting that citizens info states that there is a "right to use private land for recreational purposes" as no such right exists. A couple of years ago, O Cuiv as minister set up an inquiry under an expert group Comhairle na Tuaithe to look at recreational access to land. Unless it has been very recently introduced, no right then existed nor was it legislated for.

A person is possession of land (whether as freeholder or tenant) is entitled to exclude all other persons from his land unless they have established legal rights (such as a right of way or a warrant to enter). Unfortunately, trespass in circumstances such as these is a civil matter and unless you can establish that they have damaged the land you will not receive any monetary compensation although you can request an injunction preventing them from entering your land again.

If you have philiosphical objections to hunting, why not contact the Anti Blood Sports people and establish whether they know of lawyers who might take your case on a pro bono basis. In the interim, send a registered letter to the hunt informing them that they are not welcome.