A COACHLOAD of overseas tourists needed a Garda escort out of Killarney National Park after being intimidated by protesting jarveys last week.
The incident is being seen as a “worrying escalation” in a seven-week dispute over horse dungcatcher devices, the National Parks and Wildlife Service said at the weekend.
The tourists were visiting Muckross House, one of the State’s most visited attractions, last Monday morning when “they were intimidated when disembarking from their coach by a number of protesting jarveys”, according to the service.
It is understood the jarveys ran after the coach, which passed their pickets at the main roadside entrance to the house.
Jarveys say the claims have been exaggerated. A minority of Killarney’s 80 jarveys are involved in the picket.
In a statement, the parks and wildlife service noted with regret “the unsavoury incident” in which tourists were “in fear of their safety” on Monday morning and had to be given a Garda escort out of the national park.
A number of staff at the craft shop at Muckross House have been laid off because of a downturn in business due to the protest at the main gates.