An injunction to prevent protesters from blocking access to a landfill site in Ballinasloe was granted to the local urban district council in the High Court yesterday.
It was the third day of a dispute in which protesters closed off the entrance to the facility at Poolboy to highlight their anger at it being used to accept refuse from all over the county.
There was no refuse collection in Galway city or county yesterday, as over 100 protesters took part in the demonstration. Refuse collection vehicles were denied access to the site throughout the day.
But the council was granted the injunction, requiring the protesters to move away from the entrance to Poolboy, at the High Court.
The injunction is due for renewal next Monday.
From yesterday Galway Corporation was required to transport all city refuse to the site 40 miles away because of an earlier High Court decision to close the city dump at Carrowbrowne.
But more than 100 members of the Ballinasloe Against the Superdump lobby group turned up at the site at 8 a.m. yesterday, blocking access to lorries.
At least 50 protesters maintained a fireside vigil at the entrance to the dump throughout the day, and only local council lorries, carrying debris from nearby roadworks, were allowed into the 80acre facility. "We are expected to take all of the county's waste in the most primitive conditions, and it is just not good enough," said Ms Sheila Ganley, a member of Ballinasloe UDC.
"There is a threat of contamination and serious pollution to the town, and the people feel that they just cannot stand back and let that happen. We are here on this protest because we believe that the UDC is breaking the law."
The council's chairman, Mr Michael Finnerty, said that vehicles would not force their way through the protesters at the site, but the council would be prepared to take the requisite legal action to allow in refuse.