Trespass laws should be changed to prevent members of the Travelling community camping on private property, Fine Gael has said. The party's spokeswoman on local government, Ms Olivia Mitchell, also called for changes in the 1998 legislation requiring local authorities to provide sites for Travellers.
Ms Mitchell said the legislation had proved to be "unreasonable and unworkable", and encouraged a "flagrant disregard of the rights of the settled community to enjoy their local amenities in a rubbish-free and unthreatening manner". She added: "If as it seems, the current law permits, condones and protects the kind of environmental destruction wrought by Travellers, the only solution is to change the law."