Mast wars spread
Cavan
Communities opposing telecommunication masts won a significant victory last week in Cavan. An Bord Pleanála upheld an objection by the Bailieboro Environmental Action Group to an Eircell mast and told the company to take the mast and its antennae down.
Sinn Féin Councillor Pauline Tully, from Kilnaleck, Ballyjamesduff, welcomed the decision as a great victory for the campaign and said that it was of particular significance because the board grounded its decision not only on the fact that the mast was unsightly but also on the fact that the it was too close to a residential area.
``This is one of the first times that the very real fears that masts may be a danger to health has been recognised,'' said Tully. ``Recent research results are beginning to be recognised beyond the scientific community, which indicate that masts may indeed be a health hazard.''
Wicklow
Wicklow County Council has voted unanimously to overturn the County Manager's decision to give planning permission for a mast at Ballard Upper Kilbride. The councillors rejected the written advice of the manager, Blaise Treacy, and voted for a Section 30 motion, under the 1963 Planning Act, to overturn the decision to allow the 30-metre high Eircell mast.
Dick Roche (Fianna Fáil), proposing the motion, was very critical of Eircell's treatment of the local community. He said that the company had failed to honour undertakings to consult with the local community on alternative sites, which demonstrated the company's lack of ``truthfulness and veracity''.
Leitrim
In taking a Section 30 motion to overule the manager, Wicklow County Council was following in the footsteps of Leitrim County Council which back in March, in a groundbreaking decision, overuled their manager's decision to give planning permission for an Eircell mast at Tully, Ballinamore.
Eircell's appeal against the Council was heard in the High Court last week, where judgement was reserved but is expected in a week's time. To the amazement of Sinn Féin Councillor Liam McGirl, who was the original proposer of the Section 30 motion, he was not informed of the High Court hearing last week: ``The acting manager of the council explained to me this week that the `matter was only an internal thing'. Eircell might like to believe that, but we don't.''
Flawed safety guidelines
Very important in this research has been the work of Dr Gerard Joseph Hyland of Warwick University, who reported recently to a House of Commons select Committee on the non-thermal effects of masts. To date, existing safety guidelines only consider the thermal aspects of this low level radiation of microwaves - the `frizzle your brain' aspect.
But this is now meeting a serious challenge from scientists, who are looking at the effect of the frequency range of ultra low intensity microwave irradiation on living organisms. Frequency, which has been shown to trigger epilepsy in some susceptible people, is now seen as an important variable which must now be taken into consideration in establishing safety guidelines.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)