Travellers are considering nationwide public protests against a trespass law they say will lead to many of them being "criminalised".
Planning is already underway for protests in Galway and Cork and one has already taken place in Tallaght. The ITM are also seeking to enlist the support of the trade union movement and other social partners.
ITM co-ordinator Ms Catherine Joyce confirmed to ireland.comthat permission will be sought from ITM delegates to go ahead with a series of what she described as "national protests".
"We now need to look forward and identify other strategies, which have the capacity to deliver real change in the situation of Travellers. The next few days will allow us to relect on the current situation and define a new agenda to target the next government," Ms Joyce said.
The ITM’s annual conference is being held today and tomorrow at the Tower Hotel in Sligo where the organisation’s leaders hope to formalise a strategy aimed at overturning a law introduced three weeks ago that changed trespass from a civil to a criminal offence.
The new measure, proposes €3,000 fines and/or a month's imprisonment for those breaching the new provision. The ITM say the law is racist and could lead to the criminalisation of 1,200 families around the country.
The Department of the Environment says the measure is mainly aimed at large illegal encampments, which local authorities in Dublin say cost hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to clear up.
But the ITM claims the law would allow gardaí to move families camped on public and private lands without any regard to where the families should go. "The recent introduction of the law shows clearly the lack of commitment by the Governemnt to tackling the problems faced by Travellers today," Ms Joyce said.