Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley say how such blatant inconsistencies can exist in An Bord Pleanála's decision making when it comes to Tetra mast applications on Eircom sites?

An Bord Pleanála is appointed by the Minister, yet is not accountable to anybody. I cannot understand for the life of me why. If it is appointed by a Minister one would expect that it should be accountable to somebody, especially the particular Minister. For example, eight out of eight planning applications that were refused by Kerry County Council were upheld by An Bord Pleanála because, in Kerry a "1 km rule" was introduced, during my time in local government, to the effect that telecommunications masts could not be located within 1 km of a residential area or a hospital or school. Some seven out of eight planning applications that were refused by Cork County Council were overturned by An Bord Pleanála, so there are stark inconsistencies there. How can these statistics be acceptable or justified and why is it that County Cork's amenities and citizens appear to be more worthy of protection than County Kerry's? That is not acceptable.

While nobody denies the needs for such a service as Tetra's, it is the irresponsibility in choosing locations for the masts that I find unacceptable. In the Cork areas An Bord Pleanála cited "proximity to residential buildings, proximity to protected structures, proximity to schools and community properties" as reasons to refuse planning for these masts. This does not seem to be a problem for An Bord Pleanála in some of the Kerry cases, however, particularly as regards the Annascaul mast site which is merely 30 metres from the nearest permanently occupied residence. The nearest occupied building, which houses a small business, is only 26 metres from the site. There are approximately ten occupied residences, a protected structure within 50 metres of the site. There is another protected structure within 90 m and a further two within 420 m of the site, as well as a school within 570 m. The whole nucleus of the village is based within 800 m of the site, which is in the centre of the village.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's guidelines on telecommunications masts and support structures of 1996 state that only as a last resort, and if all the alternatives are unavailable or unsuitable, should freestanding masts be located in a residential area or beside schools. In the Annascaul case, An Bord Pleanála's senior inspector strongly recommended against granting planning permission on the grounds that all other alternative sites had not been fully investigated. It is clear they have not been fully investigated because the people of the community were contacted recently by Tetra Ireland in order for the people themselves to come up with a more suitable site. That is not their job.

The siting of the mast in Annascaul would be seriously damaging to the surrounding amenities and properties yet the board itself overruled the inspector's findings. 3 Ireland, which is the company contracted by Tetra Ireland to acquire the site, has stated that as a priority it targets the Eircom exchanges first when choosing a site. This in itself proves that these sites are not being chosen as a last resort, as stated in and required by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's 1996 guidelines. These decisions by An Bord Pleanála appear to flout the guidelines set down by the Department and have left small communities like Annascaul to fend for themselves against big businesses like Eircom and Tetra.

The Annascaul community has now entered its first week of a 24-hour protest outside the site and they will not give it up. I suggest that the Minister would get involved and intervene in this case. These people are not going to lie down because, as I have said, Kerry people will not lie down. I call on the Minister to personally intervene in this case before it goes too far.

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