South Dublin County Council is facing a bill of up to £60,000 to clear hundreds of tonnes of commercial and domestic rubbish from a local GAA pitch.
Some 40 Traveller families left the pitch in Cherryfield, Knocklyon, last Sunday. They had been camping illegally for several weeks. The head of the council's Traveller Accommodation Unit, Mr Mick Fagan, said the pitch would be cleared next week.
He blamed a core group of trader Travellers for most of the rubbish, which included washing machines, furniture, vehicles and tree tops. "They are just totally irresponsible and they are the people who earn all Travellers a bad name."
Mr Damien Peelo from the Tallaght Travellers Community Development Project said the degree of dumping on the site was a disgrace. He said discussions had been taking place with the council last week to clear away the debris with the co-operation and financial assistance of Travellers.
Mr Peelo said the families, who had about 60 caravans on the pitch, left Cherryfield suddenly on Sunday after inaccurate rumours circulated that Travellers in Clane, Co Kildare, had been arrested for illegal dumping. Earlier this month, some Travellers on the football pitch began legal action to highlight their accommodation needs and this would continue, said Mr Peelo.
"Some of the families still have strong cases and have nowhere to go, and we can learn from this and move, but the accommodation issue can't be swept aside because of the rubbish," he added.
Meanwhile, Limerick Corporation has withdrawn a proposal to build 13 houses for Travellers at a halting site at Childers Road, writes Brian McLaughlin, in Limerick.
This follows a protest by more than 50 residents at a meeting of Limerick City Council on Monday night. The city manager, Mr Brendan Keating, withdrew the proposal and agreed that discussions should take place between local councillors and the residents to devise a new plan for the site.
The chairman of the Combined Singland Residents' Association, Mr Sean Comerford, said the corporation had to accept that an agreement made 10 years ago between residents, local representatives, the Travelling community and the corporation was binding.
Fine Gael councillor Mr Diarmuid Scully, speaking on behalf of the residents at the meeting, said that agreements made in 1991 had not been honoured. There was to be a full-time caretaker and the site was to be landscaped but this had not been done. There was also a ban on horses, but the site "has an infestation of horses," he said.
It was revealed that a sulkie had run into the back of a car and knocked down a four-year-old child, who had to be taken to hospital.
The Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Dick Sadlier, said that a lot of comments being made came from sheer frustration and not from any bias against Travellers.
"What's not acceptable is appalling conduct and reprehensible behaviour. The Traveller community on Childers Road were accepted into the local community and every effort was made for agreement."