The `vigil-keepers' from the Save the Trees protest in the Glen of the Downs are due back in the High Court today as their case for a judicial review of Wicklow County Council's road-widening plan comes up for mention.
Expected to be adjourned again, the case only extends the stand-off between the so-called eco-warriors and the county council. It further hardens the views of local opponents of their camp, who would like to see it disbanded, at least while the court is deliberating.
If something is not done Wicklow could be facing "a Stonehenge in the Glen" all summer long, one local resident said.
It was a different story this time last year when the protesters descended on the area, warriors with a mission. In Ireland's Garden County its very protector - the county council - was about to put a dual-carriageway through one of its most prized nature reserves. Although many locals did not like it from the start, for much of the public in the county and around the State, it was a protest that caught the imagination.
There was a fascination with these people prepared to live in trees, to bond on the barricades, to take on the establishment, determined to win.
This week those opposed to the protest point out that recent heavy rainfall has not helped already muddy conditions at the camp. Certainly in these wet days the benders - the black plastic and heavy brown canvas communal areas - are not the prettiest sight, and the wooden walkways through the mud are swampy and messy.
Moving the camp from the forest floor to the nearby car park has done little to improve the visual aspect of the protest. The same could be said of the banners and makeshift signs hung nearby.
Opponents of the camp insist that the vigil-keepers are now actually damaging the environment they came to save.
Local Fine Gael councillor Mr George Jones, who has consistently opposed the protest, says there is "no need at all for the camp to be there while the action has moved to the courts."
That the campers were still there was proof that they were not on the site to protect the environment. "They're here because of anarchy and a desire for alternative lifestyles."
The councillor reiterates that the £18.5 million scheme for road widening between Kilmacanogue and Drummin, at the southern end of the glen, is a compromise worked out between the council and local people. The resultant road will take less than 2 per cent of the woodland, he argues, maintaining that in most sections of the route the only loss would be ash scrub.
The campers are, he says, damaging the habitat of the glen, not just by their own actions but also through the large numbers of "rubber-neckers" who come to visit the camp.
"Birds which normally come to the area to nest have not come this year and badgers and other forms of wildlife have been driven out," Mr Jones insists. While he welcomes the recent moving of the camp from the glen floor to the car park, and the reduction in numbers from a high of over 30 to the present figure of 15, to him it is "too little too late."
Mr Mick O'Connell, a tree surgeon from Blessington, wants the camp to be stood down. "I am in favour of trees and would not stand over their removal in all but the most drastic of circumstances. But these `protectors' are doing more harm than the local authority will do in carrying out the works.
"They have made their point. They have got the case to court but now their ropes, bridges and ladders are killing the trees. There have also been trees `spiked' with nails and metal inserts. This will kill the trees," he claims.
Mr O'Connell maintains the conditions at the glen prove these people are not eco-warriors. "They are eco-dossers."
Ms Georgina Byrne of the Glen Garage, the nearest shop to the camp, is adamant in her rejection of the campers' motives.
"There is no need for them. They are a bunch of wasters and they should go home to their own countries.
"I can't turn into my home coming down this road. I'm left in the middle of the road with traffic all around me and there have been countless accidents. Go on up to Kilmacanogue and ask around, nobody who uses that road supports the camp."
However, campers in the glen this week were equally adamant that they would stay "as long as it takes to protect the trees."
Mr Michael Martin took issue with suggestions that the campers were largely foreign nationals, professional protesters who got wind of the issue on the Internet, eco-groupies who simply moved from one fight to the next.
"The issue here is the trees," he says. "It is a planetary issue, it affects everyone."
Another camper, Mr Tone Curren, agrees. "It's an international vigil fighting international interests. That road is Euroroute One. What is happening is international big business making demands on people and governments.
"We are pointing out that it is not in our interests to allow the felling of trees."
On the need to remain in the Glen while the court case continues, Mr Curren says the campers do not accept the undertaking of Wicklow County Council to desist from felling. Pointing to trees felled by the council in January, before the court undertakings, he says:
"Wicklow County Council said they had simply cut saplings and scrub. I can show you the stump of a tree 57 years old. The man who says that that is a sapling has the mind of a child.
"You have to protect children. That is what we are doing, we are protecting Wicklow County Council from doing damage."
Ms Christine McQuillan also feels it is important to remain in the glen to raise awareness of the issue involved. "We aim to create an awareness of the educational value of the biosystem - University College Dublin sends students out here and we help and advise others," - like, she says, those concerned about Santry Woods.
Another camper, Mr John Ward of Trim, Co Meath, takes issue with the suggestion that the campers are young people, pointing out that he is 54 and adding that there are many more like him. The campers reject very strongly the allegation that they have spiked the trees or that their tree houses are damaging them.
They point to their clean-up of the area in which they retrieved rubbish which they say was dumped in the glen. "Any impact we have will be minimal and the area will recover," says Ms McQuillan. "If the county council plan goes through, felled trees never will."
The Glen of the Downs protestors' web site is to be found at htttp://www.connect.ie/emc/glen