Travellers who have moved onto lands at Dublin Airport are in danger themselves and are also endangering aircraft taking off and landing at a nearby runway, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr Justice Kearns granted a temporary order to Mr Patrick McCann, for Aer Rianta, restraining trespass and directing the Travellers to vacate the area. The judge said he could not imagine anything more dangerous than the situation which had been described to him.
In an affidavit, Mr Brian Vaughan, property manager, Aer Rianta, said the Travellers were only 600m from runway 29.
There were several hundred planes taking off and landing at the airport daily. It was acknowledged that aircraft would occasionally over-fly a runway. The defendants were in a dangerous location.
Aer Rianta also had very serious concerns that any accumulation of rubbish at the location would draw flocks of birds.
While he had not seen any accumulation of rubbish on the property, Mr Vaughan said he was concerned that the nature of the site and the absence of refuse facilities was such that there was a serious risk of an accumulation of rubbish.
For example, the airport no longer dumped any of its own waste in the vicinity of the airport, he said.
The land in the area was restricted in use. Cattle or sheep were not allowed to be grazed in that part of the airport lands adjacent to the runway, nor were crops allowed to be grown.
Mr Vaughan said a jeep patrolled the airport on a 24-hour basis firing flares to discourage birds from flying in the airport vicinity.
Sightings of birds in or about the airport, as well as posing risks to aircraft, also caused delays for the takeoff and landing of aircraft.
He was also concerned that the lights in the windows of the 20 caravans and the lights of vehicles could cause a distraction to pilots and might possibly prevent safe landing of aircraft.
On Tuesday night, a small bonfire was lit by some of the defendants. They extinguished it when requested. However, lighting of fires in or around the runway could cause a serious hazard. Smoke generated by bonfires would impede safe landing of aircraft.
Mr Tom Watters, an airport police sergeant, said in an affidavit that when he visited the site on Tuesday, as well as 20 caravans there were about 20 jeeps, vans and cars. There were about 20 men, 25 women and 30 children at the site.