John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not repeat what my colleague said, but perhaps I can add some additional points. As a public representative, when I was in conversation with a few residents from Kingswood Heights recently, I came across five of these masts in a very small geographical space. I became more conscious of masts, including very close to where I live One of the things we need to know is what is the purpose of these masts. Why are they required? What are they used for? This is not to do away with the fact that we recognise the need for telecommunications and for more instruments to facilitate greater use of telecommunications, including by individuals using their smartphones. We keep so much information and use our smartphone technology for so many functions on a daily basis. Antennae clearly are in the interest of promoting business in a particular area, but I agree with my colleague that there almost seems to be a way whereby these companies get to construct and erect the communications masts and antennae by stealth. Local authorities, including in this case South Dublin County Council, say one day that there is permission for it. One department says that and then another day another department says that it has nothing to do with it, and that in the case of Kingswood Heights, the Luas is responsible for it. Luas then says it has nothing to do with this, even though it is within inches, without exaggeration, of a Luas stop.

We will have more to say when we have heard the Minister of State's response, but we need an awful lot of clarification on why the masts are needed and what the processes are legally in terms of what companies ought to be doing to secure planning permission for them.

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