Gardaí were called in after a gang of masked men armed with golf clubs and bats forced security staff to withdraw from a city-owned landbank where a vast illegal dump was cleared two months ago.

A series of meetings involving gardaí, city council officials, and Traveller representatives are due to take place soon to try to resolve the issue after altercations at the former Ellis’ yard site, alongside the Spring Lane Traveller halting site, on Cork City’s northside.

Gardaí were alerted to the incident at 10.30pm on Wednesday after the masked men threatened up to six private security staff who have been patrolling the site in Ballyvolane since March.

Members of the Garda armed regional support unit were called in as back-up.

The situation was diffused. There were no injuries. A garda spokesman said that when they arrived, there was no incident and that no complaint has since been made.

A Cork City Council spokesman confirmed security staff have been withdrawn from the site for health and safety reasons but mobile patrols of the site are continuing.

Contractors were hired in March to remove some 200 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish there. CCTV cameras were installed and private security hired to patrol the site 24-hours a day to stop dumping.

The intimidation of security staff on Wednesday night was described by one source as a signal those involved in the illegal dumping want to resume their industrial-scale activity on Ellis’ yard.

The adjoining halting site, designed for less than a dozen families, is now home to more than 30, many of whom live in an unauthorised extension of the site.

A group housing scheme is now under consideration for the site.