Complaints have been made to the Garda that travellers have demanded money from land-owners in south Co Dublin before they would agree to leave the land, writes Tim O'Brien.
Gardai confirmed that a number of land-owners in the Stepaside-Kilternan area have blocked off access to roadside fields, using diggers to dig trenches and place mounds of clay in gateways, following an influx of caravans in recent weeks as the traditional travelling season gets under way.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council says it does not have enough halting sites to accommodate the travellers "and no matter how many the council built it couldn't cater for this annual migration. There is just no way we could cope", a Fine Gael council member, Ms Olivia Mitchell TD, said.