Legal route may be only way to end impasse on dung-catcher row

IT looks increasingly likely that an unseemly row about horse dung in tourist haven Killarney – which likes to be known as the more lyrical Heaven’s Reflex – will be resolved in the courts.

Leading figures in Killarney’s multi-million euro tourism industry yesterday pleaded for a resolution to a bitter stand-off between the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and local jarveys.

Attempts to get the jarveys to use dung catching devices have been continuing, unsuccessfully, for several years and there are growing concerns dung will again be on the streets during the 2010 tourist season.

As frustration grows, impatience is intensifying.

The jarveys claim it would be dangerous to use the devices, citing health and safety reasons, and are refusing to even try them out on their traps and carriages. They also claim they were not properly consulted by the NPWS, but this is denied by the service.

Leading Killarney hotelier Conor Hennigan, who was among a group of people involved in mediation attempts some months ago, yesterday called on the jarveys to trial the devices.

“If the devices are unsafe, or won’t work, let the jarveys prove that. They could then go back to the NPWS and at least the situation could be moved on from there,” he said.

Mr Hennigan, who is general manager of the Malton Hotel, described the situation as “very difficult”, adding he could not see a solution at the moment.

He said it was no longer acceptable to have horse dung on the streets and on walkways in the park.

Another well-known Killarney hotelier Michael Rosney said it was in everyone’s interest to resolve the impasse, maintaining the best way to do that was by talks.

“With movement and openness on both sides, a solution that will not be 100% satisfactory to both sides can be arrived at. But, it is something both sides will learn to live with in the fullness of time,” he said.

Mr Rosney, who is spokesman for the Kerry branch of the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF), was confident that, following such a solution, there would be a “new normality” within six to 12 months.

Killarney-based Senator Paul Coghlan, who has raised the issue in the Upper House a number of times, said nobody wanted a jarveys’ protest, or blockade, at the main gate to the National Park.

“It would be a pity if this issue is not resolved through talks. People should be able to talk to one another, but it’s more likely now that it will be resolved through the courts and the decision of a judge,” Mr Coghlan said.

Environment Minister John Gormley and the NPWS, the licensing authority for jarveys in the Muckross area, are determined to get dung off 15km of roads and footpaths in the park.

However, Killarney Town Council, which is responsible for licensing jarveys operating out of the town, has failed to confront the problem in a serious way, leading to a charge earlier this week by Independent councillor Niall O’Callaghan that the council is waiting for others to do its “dirty work”.

The NPWS set a deadline of June 8, last year, for the jarveys to fit the devices. The jarveys did not meet the deadline, but were allowed several more weeks to do so before being locked out. Court proceedings followed and the jarveys were allowed back into the park. However, as they continued to refuse to fit the devices, another lock-out was imposed on October 14 last.

The jarveys have been out of the park since then, but have been staging a protest at the main entrance to Muckross House. Staff in the restaurant and shops in the house have been put on protective notice due to a drop in trade because of the protest.

Mr Gormley and the NPWS have clearly indicated they are not for turning on the issue. Steel containers for collecting dung have been placed at several areas in the national park and planning permission has been obtained for a dungstead where the dung can be deposited.

In a hard-hitting statement during the Christmas period, Mr Gormley’s department said the jarveys were privileged in that they were allowed operate their business in a national park when similar horse-drawn rides were not allowed in any other Irish national park.

The department cited health and safety, unsightliness, the smell of dung, slurry, flies, splashing and complaints from visitors among its reasons for insisting on dung catchers.

The department has also erected large signs at the main entrances to the national park saying the park is open for visitors.

Meanwhile, tourism interests in Killarney are getting even more concerned about the row, as 2010 season approaches.

A High Court hearing is due on February 9.