The 300-strong group of trading Travellers who set up camp in a private car-park in Ballyhaunis last weekend moved yesterday afternoon after two skip-loads of offal placed in and in front of the car-park made them decide to move on.
The group who are selling furniture and other items, moved to another private car-park on a different road in the town.
Mayo County Council is now investigating the implications of the skip-loads of offal to the local environment.
A Department of Agriculture spokesperson said yesterday inspectors had classified the offal in the skips as class 3 and "not a human health hazard". He said the material in the skips was destined for pet food manufacturing.
"The Department inspectors job is to establish the risk of the offal to health and then to ensure that it is disposed of according to our guidelines," he said. "It's not the Department's business to establish who put the skip load of offal in place, in the first place."
Before leaving the Dawn Meats car-park yesterday a spokesperson for the Travellers, who would not give his name, and who refused to say where they would be moving on to, said they had not received a welcome like that given in Mayo anywhere else.
The president of Ballyhaunis Chamber of Commerce, Mr Donal Shanaghy, says the impact on businesses in the town since the travellers have arrived is "very significant". He said the influx of so many Travellers has adversely affected all trade in the town.
"I'm calling for the revenue commissioners to investigate the source of the furniture and other goods that the travelling traders are selling," he said.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said yesterday it is examining the Dawn Meats car-park site to ascertain exactly who owns the site and who is responsible for placing the two skip loads of offal at the site.
"Whoever, is responsible will have to remove it. Dawn Meats and adjoining Western Proteins have denied that they own the skips of offal. They are putting that in writing to us now," the EPA spokesperson claimed.