Pickets have now been placed on the entrances to Killarney National Park after jarveys were banned from the area in a row over horse dung.
Jarveys, who operate jaunting cars Co Kerry, have refused to use so-called dung-catching devices on their horses.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service - which manages the park - has told the jarveys that the soiling of roads and pathways by their horses is no longer acceptable, but the Jarveys are refusing to use the devices.
The NPWS has offered to pay for the devices, but the jarveys claim they are unsafe and dangerous.
45 jarveys have licences from the NPWS to operate 66 horse-drawn jaunting cars in Killarney National Park.
They offer tours of Muckross, Torc and Ross Island on 15km of internal roads and paths to almost 1m people who visit the park every year.
But the soiling of those roads and pathways by the jarveys' horses has consistently been a contentious issue.
After 18 months of consultations and negotiations, the NPWS closed the jaunting car entrances to the park at 6am this morning.
The parks service says the decision was taken as none of the jaunting cars hold a valid permit which requires the use of dung catchers to operate within the park.
They say jarveys will be banned until they sign up to using the dung-catching devices.
Killarney National Park remains open to the public.
