Mr. Robert Mourik:

I thank the Deputy. I will give the floor to Mr. Blaney in a minute on this topic. Deputy Crowe raises mobile phone health issues and how to stay current. We are of course not a health regulator. We are not health experts. We do not know exactly how the impact of frequencies on human bodies works but there are experts around. The international body that deals with this is called the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, ICNIRP. It is a body aligned to the UN and WHO. Every time a new mobile phone technology is invented, ICNIRP comes out with updated guidance on what the effects are and we take that into account. We demand from mobile operators that they adhere to the ICNIRP norms.

Every year, ComReg tests hundreds of masts around the country to check that they are below the norms. If they are not below the norms, the provisions of this legislation would kick in and we could take action.