Travellers camped illegally in large numbers on public or private lands would be forced to move on or else face arrest under legislation proposed by Fine Gael yesterday.
Urgent changes to the law were needed to counter trading Travellers who were increasingly taking over lands and using them as a dump, said Fine Gael TD Ms Olivia Mitchell.
Some Travellers, and some of their support groups, "have chosen to regard membership of a minority community as a licence to ignore" many of the country's laws, she claimed.
Efforts to move Travellers are now hampered unless local authorities can offer alternative accommodation.
There are some exceptions where encampments are within one mile of an existing halting site.
Both public and private landowners find it difficult to take court action against Travellers because they often cannot identify the people involved and directly link them to a particular caravan.
The proposed Fine Gael Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2001 would make trespass a criminal offence and allow landowners to serve orders simply by delivering them to a caravan.
Local authorities would not be open to compensation claims if they seize caravans at illegal sites and these are subsequently damaged as long as they can show that they took reasonable care.
In addition, plaintiffs will not have to prove ownership of the land before the District Court unless Travellers can first show that they have a bona fide claim to it, the Fine Gael proposal suggests.
Travellers were "part of" Irish society, said Ms Mitchell. "I am, of course, conscious that this is a sensitive issue....I have no desire to make their situation any worse.
"The rights which they -undoubtedly have do not place them outside the laws which apply to everybody else, nor do they entitle them to assert those rights by trampling or in anyway diminishing the rights and legitimate aspirations of others.
"Confrontation is inevitable unless we do something about it. It is not in anyone's interest to allow such flashpoints to continue and there is an urgent need to restrike the balance," she said.
She accepted that some Travellers enter private lands because their traditional halting sites have been developed.
"They are often not aware that they are on private property," she said.
However, she said the movement has become more organised in recent months in some cases.
She claimed there was anecdotal evidence that some Travellers were now demanding money before they would quit land.
"This is, I would stress, not a widespread practice and not nearly as widespread as some individuals would have you believe, but it does happen and it is facilitated by the difficulties in getting an order from the High Court," she said.
The legislation will make it mandatory, and not discretionary, on all local authorities to ensure that Travellers are not parked within one mile of an existing halting site.
Referring to the problems associated with an illegal site near the Dodder in south Co Dublin, Ms Mitchell said the existing situation was "totally counter-productive" from the Travellers' own point of view.
"Nobody who has seen the Dodder over the last six months would now accept that they should have to live next door to a halting site," said the FG housing and local government spokesperson.
