An order preventing a number of Travellers trespassing on Sandyford Industrial Estate was issued by the High Court yesterday.
The injunction was sought by Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, owner of the property. Proceedings against a number of other Travellers allegedly trespassing on the estate are to come before the court next week.
A solicitor for some of the Travellers claimed in an affidavit that conditions laid down by the council for the keeping of horses effectively meant the Travellers were unable to keep horses and to maintain this time-honoured part of their way of life.
Traveller accommodation was an exercise in futility unless they could be accommodated in such a way as to allow them pursue this aspect of their lives, he said.
In an affidavit, Mr Martin Allidine, senior staff officer with the council, said it had had considerable difficulty throughout the 1990s over illegal encampment by members of the Travelling community on Sandyford Industrial Estate.
There were no water or sanitation facilities on the areas used by the Travelling communities for illegal encampments, he said. These encampments were generally part of the open spaces or road margins within the estate.
The defendants and their families had been approached and invited to apply for housing accommodation, Mr Allidine said. They had been given application forms.
In another affidavit, Mr Haughton, a solicitor for some of the Travellers, said breeding, rearing and keeping of horses and selling them had been part of the Travelling community's way of life for generations.
Unless they could be accommodated in such a way as to enable them to pursue this "time-honoured part of their way of life", the provision of Traveller accommodation was an exercise in futility.
Mr Haughton said that, following the Control of Horses Act, 1996, the council proceeded to lay down conditions for the granting of licences for keeping horses within its functional area. These conditions included the provision of high-quality permanent stabling facilities by a person licensed to keep horses within a "control area".
It was submitted that in taking those steps, the council was deliberately ensuring the Travelling community would be unable to comply with the requirements laid down for licensing horses under the Act.
The Travellers were effectively put in the position that, while they were offered accommodation within the functional area of the council in compliance with its statutory obligations, the council was in a position to force them to abandon their horses or take to the road again, he said. His clients had taken to the road.
In a replying affidavit, Mr Allidine said the reference to the Control of Horses Act and the capacity or capability of the defendants to keep horses or pursue such a lifestyle was entirely irrelevant to proceedings where defendants were illegally encamped on the estate. Some were keeping horses in areas of the estate provided for the benefit of tenants.