A GROUP of jarvey drivers in Co Kerry who are refusing to attach dung carriers to their carriages have secured a temporary injunction from the High Court allowing them entry to Killarney National Park.
The jarveys have been unable to access the park since last Tuesday when bollards at the entrances were raised by the National Park and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as part of its effort to have the jarveys use dung catchers.
Yesterday, a group of 27 jarveys were granted an interim injunction restraining the NPWS from preventing their access to the park. The NPWS had earlier sought to have the matter adjourned to early next week to allow it prepare a full reply to the jarveys’ claims, which are denied.
The interim order was granted by Justice John Hedigan who made the matter returnable to next week. The judge said, with “some considerable doubt”, he was prepared to grant an interim injunction ordering that the bollards be lowered so the jarveys could enter the park.
This was a difficult situation involving the court balancing the service’s function in maintaining and managing the park against the jarveys’ ability to earn a living, he said. In these difficult economic times, he was prepared to grant the jarveys the interim injunction.
The court earlier heard the jarveys had been unable to work since Tuesday and this is the busiest time of the year for them.
A jarvey ride was an integral part of the Killarney tourist product and the NPWS’s actions were “dramatic and draconian”, the jarveys said.
They claimed the NPWS would not grant them a licence to use the park unless dung catchers are attached. They alleged dung catchers irritated the horses because the animals were unable to swat off flies.
Lawyers for the park service said the issue over the dung catchers had been ongoing between the parties for some time.