A member of the Western Health Board who called for passport-type logbooks for travellers so they could be located as they moved from place to place has been branded a fascist and accused of inciting others to hatred by his remarks.
Mayo Mr John Flannery said that in his dealings with travellers over 17 years he had concluded that they expected everything to be done for them and gave little in return.
Ms Margaret Cox described the debate as regrettable and said she wished to be dissociated from many of the remarks made.
Mr Terry Leyden branded the remarks `fascist".
The regional manager of community services, Mr Seamus Mannion, said he hoped Mr Flannery's comments would not adversely affect efforts by the health board to get travellers to keep newly-introduced health records for their children.
Last night a travellers' rights activist, Ms Ellen Mongan, said she was horrified by Mr Flannery's comments and accused him of inciting others to hatred.
She claimed that as an elected representative he was either crazy or abusing his powers by making such sweeping statements. She called for his resignation from the traveller committee of Mayo County Council.
Mr Flannery said travellers lay out sunning themselves like pedigree dogs when they should be made to work on employment schemes like everybody else. He was addressing a meeting of the health board during a debate on improving the health of the traveller community.
The Fine Gael councillor was concerned that travellers were not what he termed "locatable" and suggested that microchips could be used to track them as they moved from place to place. Even livestock in this country were traceable, he said.
Travellers expected local authorities to do everything for them while they could afford to purchase 1998-registered vans, which were paid for in cash, he said.