Irish travellers have a distinct status in the UK as an ethnic group. Not so in Ireland. As they are an ethnic group it gives them more rights. There are rights and wrongs in all of this.
Travellers wish to move about, a bit, in this case it seems these travellers want to live in Dale Farm but half of them do not have planning permission, so what they are doing is illegal. But the UK councils have a duty to offer them halting sites. The UK councils fail in this as local residents have NIMBY, a concept familar to Irish communities.
There is a halting site next to where I had a home, it was always well kept, small, and not a bit of bother, you wouldn't even know it was there. I know a council worker who worked on it and he told me that if you put in a light bulb or wiring they would rip it out to sell or whatever. This is part of their bad reputation.
Some travellers have a bad reputation, but not all of them are bad. The really nasty one's I've heard of are those that patrol rural Ireland for elderly victims. I presume the reputation for leaving a site in a dreadful state is true but cannot be proved.
About a month ago at a petrol station here on the continent I met an Irish traveller from Rathkeale, he needed to put petrol in his car but he told me he had no credit card and asked did I speak English, he was holding a 50 note and debating with himself if he would speak to me and trying to decide on 50 or 20, he settled for the 20 so I finished filling my car, asked him for the 20 and filled his car making sure it was 20 (20.02 to be precise) He realised I was Irish and wondered had I heard of Rathkeale ! He was very pleasant and as is there way, as we chatted he asked me did I need any work done on the house (roofs and paving he mentioned) which I politely declined. Not sure why I'm telling this story but there you go.
Travellers are discriminated against, badly educated and have a short life span, they often live in deplorable conditions. Settled people find it hard to understand why they want to live in caravans if offering housing but that is to not understand their way of life. As a child I remember in Irish pubs printed signs saying no travellers. I always found that sign fascinating.
In relation to Dale Farm it is surprising that some/a lot of them have homes in Rathkeale and return there once or twice a year (xmas/funerals). If these houses are council owned then I think they should not be allowed have unused homes that other needy people could have, but I'm not a native of Rathkeale, and maybe settled people there would refuse to live where the travellers lived. Presumably Limerick County Council are looking into this and can identify people from TV and newspapers.
One thing I wondered about is why are they in the UK. Presumably as it's a larger population there, there would be a lot of work on houses or whatever so they can earn a living.