A firefighter was injured last night after his crew was pelted with rocks and stones while tackling a rubbish fire at a halting site on the northside of Cork city.

The fire crew from Cork City Fire Brigade was forced to withdraw from the entrance to Spring Lane halting site in Ballyvolane at around 11pm for health and safety reasons.

Their injured colleague was taken to the emergency department at Cork University Hospital for treatment for a lower leg injury and was released a short time later.

It is the latest incident at the overcrowded halting site which has been the subject of controversy for several years.

Firefighters have responses to dozens of rubbish fires at the adjoining Ellis’s Yard site in recent years.

They were accompanied by gardai on several occasions.

The Ellis’s yard site was cleared of several hundred tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish earlier this year.

A security hut installed there soon afterwards was burned out and security staff were threatened by members of a masked gang armed with bats and golf club.

Several recent incidents of illegal dumping on the roads nearby are also being investigated.