The Irish Farmers' Association and the GAA have reiterated that they are not sanctioning next Sunday's protest in Athlone, Co Westmeath, over the jail sentence given to Mayo farmer Pádraig Nally.
In a related development, an NUI Galway law lecturer has said that Mr Justice Paul Carney had a very difficult task in sentencing Nally, and that the farmer was fortunate to avoid a murder conviction.
Both the IFA and GAA have stated that members are free to attend the rally if they wish, and the GAA Mayo County Board said yesterday that it expected many of its members in south Mayo would turn up to participate in a "peaceful" assembly.
The Garda Press Office says it is not aware of any concerns relating to the protest and its venue. The Mayo Travellers Support Group has already called for the protest to be called off.
The Pádraig Nally Support Group (PNSG), which is organising the rally, says it is not intended to be "anti-Traveller" and committee representatives would be meeting gardaí beforehand.
"The only thing that would affect the rally is if the gardaí are concerned about it going ahead," James Waldron, a member of the support group and a neighbour of Nally's, told The Irish Times.
Mr Waldron, a member of the GAA Mayo County Board, said there had been a "misinterpretation" by the media in relation to the GAA and IFA involvement.
"The county board met on Monday night and decided it was not officially backing it, but members were free to attend," he said.
Seán Feeney, secretary of the GAA Mayo County Board, confirmed this position, and stressed that the decision to participate would be a "community response" to a particular situation. He and other officials would not be attending as the GAA were opening a new club room on Sunday.
The IFA national headquarters is also occupied elsewhere on Sunday with a rally over the EU reform proposals on sugar beet planned for Mallow, Co Cork.
An IFA spokesman said the Athlone march did not have "backing, help or support" of the IFA even though some of its officers were involved in their own capacity.
"We have concerns about rural crime and rural policing and in that context we have sought a meeting next week with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell," he said.
"We will not be discussing individual cases. Those are for the courts, but we will want to talk to him about the many issues relating to crime facing rural people," he said.
Conor Hanly, criminal law lecturer at NUI, Galway, said Nally was fortunate to avoid a murder sentence, given the reported evidence.
The Mayo farmer, who began his six year sentence last weekend for the manslaughter of Galway Traveller John Ward, is to apply for leave to appeal on December 5th.
Mr Hanly said the six year sentence was "not lenient", but should be seen in the context of two to three-year sentences given for dangerous driving.
