Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right. It is my intention to deal with the mobile phone, wireless and broadband issues in the short term. As soon as we get recommendations from this group, I intend to start acting on them. It will not be a case of waiting until December to do it. However, an issue that cannot be ignored is that some local authorities take a very different approach to the issue of antennae and mobile phone masts. For example, in my constituency, the development contribution in County Roscommon for the construction of a telephone mast is zero while across the River Suck in the other part of my constituency in County Galway, it is €20,000. The levels of refusals in the Deputy's adjoining county of Kerry have been significant. First time grants in County Kerry for telecommunications antennae from Vodafone, which are the lowest in the country, are 25% and yet in Cork, the figure is 87%. Surely the planning process in County Cork is not that different from County Kerry.

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