An Taisce in Kerry has expressed concern at "the considerable number of caravan parks" which appear to be hosting caravans in excess of the numbers permitted.
In the case of one park with permission for eight caravans, An Taisce found 43 permanent and four touring caravans on the site. In another park licensed for 21 caravans, the survey conducted by An Taisce found 77 permanent caravans and five touring vans, Dr Catherine McMullin, of the Kerry branch of An Taisce, said.
Some of the 90 or so licensed caravan parks did not meet the requirements of the council's own standards set out in the county development plan, she added.
The plan specifies a maximum density of 50 temporary dwellings to each hectare or 20 to each acre on serviced sites, spacing of 20 feet between units in all directions around temporary dwellings and 30 feet between each pitch and any permanent structure. There are also minimum standards for water supply and sewerage and for fire hydrants in the plan.
Kerry County Council has confirmed it has served notices on a small number of sites following inspections earlier this year. Breaches of planning regulations are being pursued, a spokesman said.
"We are aware that in certain instances, additional lands have been adjoined to caravan parks," Mr Michael Scannell, the council's senior executive planning officer, said. Inadequate sanitation facilities also worry the council.
As well as requiring planning permission, caravan parks must be licensed under the Sanitary Services Act, he explained. Of equal concern in overcrowded parks was the possibility of fires breaking out and spreading easily where caravans were too close together.
Mr Scannell said the problem of allowing in more numbers than were licensed for became acute over long weekends. As a result of previous inspections at the beginning of the season, a number of parks had regularised their situation through the planning process.
However, further inspections at the height of the season may result in legal enforcement actions being commenced.
"Caravan parks are an important source of accommodation and an important element of the tourist industry," Mr Scannell said. Not alone did they provide accommodation for the transient tourist, Kerry's caravan parks also catered for long-term summer residents.
Bord Fáilte indirectly enforces the council regulations; the tourist authority will refuse to list parks which do not have proper licences and planning.
The council itself came under fire recently from An Taisce and from Dúchas for the lack of sanitation facilities on its own park at Rossbeigh strand, one of Kerry's leading blue flag beaches.
Kerry County Council owns the Rossbeigh sand-dune system, which is part of a special area of conservation within Castlemaine Harbour. However, the existence of a large number of holiday caravans and camps without proper sewerage systems, on a site managed by the council, is leading to a number of problems, the heritage service has warned.
An Taisce in Kerry is supporting Dúchas in its concern about the council-owned caravan park. Up to 100 units of camps and caravans are parked on the dunes and this is leading to erosion and damage to the sensitive dune system, Dúchas's south-west regional manager, Mr Paddy O'Sullivan, has written to Kerry County Council.