The National Outdoor Recreation Conference (NORC) began as part of Ireland’s National Outdoor Recreation Strategy “Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors”, which was launched in November 2022, to encapsulate 2023 - 2027.

As one of the speakers said during her presentation this year, “for fear of death by steering committee”, I’m mostly going to be reflecting on my takeaways from the event, while sharing with you a couple of photos from the incredible Marble Arch caves that I got to explore beforehand (as truth be told, we all know what the inside of a conference room looks like).

1. The lens with which I see the Irish landscape

The Irish landscape has been romanticised since long before we existed as an independent nation, and so tourism of our outdoors was never really a decision we made, but something that we took as a silver lining from the harsh realities of colonial impact.

However that does not mean we had, within our own cultural identity and experience, a history of outdoor recreation. Going up the mountains was, until very recently, a niche pastime - or something you had to do as someone who worked the land. And I can say this with some authority, as even though I’m only in my early 30’s, the change we’ve gone through in the last 12 years is huge, never mind the previous decades (I also wrote my master thesis about it).

In my short time living in this outdoors-focused space, I’ve seen my fair share of intrepid project developments, and shiny new launches. Several of them I was hopeful for, but many of them I ended up disappointed by. Sometimes we prioritised the creation of new over the maintenance of what we already had. Sometimes, something good was created, but not rolled out or promoted on a country-wide scale, and so would fade away to be forgotten. And then sometimes, a project was slowly being crafted by many large groups and organisations, only to have someone completely unaware of how to go about development barge through with their own vision and cause catastrophe through ignorance. Each county had a different way of building trails and developing outdoor infrastructure. It became a mental gymnastics exercise remembering which area was managed by which department across different regions.

Which is all a lot of context for me to be able to say - something feels different this time. I missed the first NORC in Sligo, but spoke on a panel at Limerick last year, and came purely as an attendee this year in Cavan. As I’ve driven home both years, I’ve had the same feelings.

2. Turning that lens on the now

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact changes. I think it’s partially that, in this post-covid space, we’ve finally recognised the importance of our outdoor spaces on a legislative level. Our wilder outdoor places took a hammering during COVID, and while that high intensity recreation has now levelled off, I suspect it will never dip back down to what is was before. As someone who already spent a lot of time outside, it felt like during COVID all of the National Governing Bodies (NGB’s) and others in the outdoor sector were just trying to manage the volume of people going outside, and keep them (and the habitats) as safe as possible.

Now that there’s been some time to breathe, those at a higher governmental level (hello Dept. for Rural, Community Development and the Gaeltacht), are backing the work of those on the ground. Not only is everyone working to sing off the same hymn sheet - they’re now all being given the same music to work with too.

I know so many wonderful, passionate people working to make the Irish outdoors a better place for recreation and conservation, and all they have needed were the backing and guidelines to build from.

Things aren’t perfect - I think a lot of these individuals are still doing the jobs of five people, and that sentiment was reflected during the consultation workshop that Outscape ran at the conference. Schemes that are currently pilot programmes (like the Outdoor Recreation Officers) are wanted across all 26 counties; and trail crews like the teams who worked on Croagh Patrick and the Wicklow Mountains are seen as a necessity for both accessibility and conservation island-wide.

3. Looking forwards

One of the final comments I heard in this workshop was someone asking, who is the target of the strategy, and how are we going to look at communicating what we have, to those who it’s being made for?

This is an important question. How do we expand our cultural mindset so everyone has a good baseline when it comes to responsible recreation? How do we make the shift from consumers, to stewardship? Communication at the end of a long project is often the hardest part, as the slow dissemination through media and conversations is not easily measured.

Which is partially why I’m here. Let me tell you some of the progress to date from this work, and how you can get involved in shaping your outdoors.

Every county has developed a County Outdoor Recreation Strategy, with 20 counties at the stage of Outdoor Recreation Committees, and at least 3 counties having completed their county level plans. Find links to County Outdoor Recreation Plans (CORPs) at the bottom of this article.

E.g.: The launch of Sligo’s Plan: https://www.independent.ie/county/sligo/sligo-launches-irelands-first-outdoor-recreation-plan/a/150067772.html
The Outdoor Recreation Officer pilot has launched, is running in 6 counties, and as I already mentioned, is being eagerly watched by all.
Three new areas will be included in the Mountain Access Project (more below the CORPs), as well as a three year pilot of the Uplands Recreation Scheme introduced for the Reeks.
The amendment to the Occupiers Liability Act now features more definitions for a distinct category of Recreationist, as well as a Voluntary Assumption of Risk, protecting land owners and hopefully encouraging more understanding towards those of us looking to explore the outdoors.

How you can now help shape your outdoor spaces is to look up where your county (or the area you go for recreation) is in its development of a county outdoor recreation plan. Depending on what stage they are at, there may be forums you can attend, or submissions you can make. Having attended forums and stakeholder strategies in the counties around me, I can promise that you attending is a good thing for everyone. These plans need people to attend, to give input and feedback, to highlight how your sport or activity exists in that area.

As Helen Lawless said in her piece for the Mountain Log;

“your knowledge of Ireland’s outdoor places can really add value to this process. The County Outdoor Recreation Plans are being developed through a collaborative process … [and] as participants in outdoor recreation may travel from outside the county to avail of cliffs, caves, mountains or other amenities, the process should be inclusive of both the local community and those that regularly visit the area.”

At the time of writing, most counties should be getting close to establishing a Stakeholder Forum. This is somewhere for all interested people and organisations, “including clubs that are active in the county, an opportunity to have their voice heard and to receive updates on what is happening in the county.” - Helen Lawless (Helen also provides great recommendations in the form of a list of things to consider in relation to development when attending different meetings).

*Live illustration of the conference created by* *Ruth Graham*

I left the conference feeling hopeful and inspired. I left ready to learn more, and excited to try and distill things down in a way I can share online. Below you’ll find links to (or info about what stage they’re at) all the different county plans, and other interesting reads.

County Outdoor Recreation Plans:

Links to completed, draft plans, or related articles to the County Outdoor Recreation Plans (CORPs), as off 15th July 2026.

Longford: published plan for 2025 - 2030
Louth: have combined their Outdoor Recreation Plan with their Play Policy and Local Sports Plan to create one “Active Louth” project, which is not at its final stages of development.
Mayo: published plan for 2026 - 2030
Meath: CORP at final stages
Monaghan: published plan for 2025 - 2030
Offaly: publish plan 2025 - 2029
Roscommon: like Leitrim, they developed an Outdoor Recreation Strategy in 2023 before the existing format for CORPS was established.
Sligo: published plan 2026 - 2030
Tipperary: completed but not launched yet.
Waterford: published plan 2025 - 2030
Westmeath: is being finalised with hopes of launching shortly
Wexford: the public consultations for Wexford’s CORP happened in March 2026, so a final plan is still a while away.
Wicklow: published plan 2025 - 2030

Carlow: published plan 2025 - 2030
Cavan: published plan, but broken link to PDF
Clare: Publicly visible draft of plan
Cork: currently has a tender out for the development of their CORP (published June 2026)
Donegal: published Outdoor Recreation Strategy 2023 - 2029
Dublin - Fingal: County Outdoor Recreation Plan 2025 - 2030
Dublin - south: Because Dublin is a city, it’s less clear how / what’s applicable. There is the Dublin Mountains Partnership Strategic Plan 2022 - 2026.
Galway: is currently at the consultation phase, with 5 public consultations scheduled for this August 2026.
Kerry: currently at the initial development stage of their CORP
Kildare: they had public consultations last year, still working on the CORP development.
Kilkenny: is completed, but hasn’t been launched yet.
Laois: has completed their plan, and are awaiting final reports. They are hoping to launch is Autumn 2026.
Leitrim: Leitrim had an existing outdoor recreation scheme that they are seeing out before considering a new one.
Limerick: published plan for 2025 - 2030

The Mountain Access Project & Upland Recreation Scheme

The Mountain Access Project was launched in 2008 to work on developing access to upland areas for recreation. As far as I’m aware, up until recently, the Reeks were the primary pilot area for this scheme (also an area of Galway, who have since decided to not continue with the scheme).

In 2024, the Dept. RCDG put out a call for applications for new areas to apply. While I don’t know conclusively which areas applied or have been successful, I have found a Comeragh Mountains Outdoor Recreation Strategy and Action Plan.

These guidelines from Comhairle na Tuaithe for Mountain Access Projects is both easy to read, and really informative.

The Reeks in Kerry have moved onto a different branch of the Mountain Access Project - the Upland Recreation Scheme. Only announced at the start of this year, this is a 3 year pilot that will fanincally support the landowners in managing recreational access, as well as fund the development and management of upland paths by the Helping the Hills programme for 2 years.

Recently, I brought some friends hiking in the Reeks for the first time, and they were shocked to learn that these mountains are privately owned. They know that most land and upland areas in Ireland is private, but they had falsely assumed that these mountains were part of the national park. Over 64,000 people access these mountains every year, and I hope that a scheme like this will only have positive outcomes.

The goal of the two-year Helping the Hills work programme is to provide training in upland path development, build the capacity of organisations to address path erosion in upland areas, and to capture and share learning from recent projects. The Helping the Hills Network was chosen as it consists of stakeholders active in upland path management. Mountaineering Ireland will take the lead responsibility for delivery of the programme.