Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I do not have a problem, and neither do the residents, with masts in and of themselves. They are part of public infrastructure today. We need them for mobile phones and so on, but what people have a problem with is waking up one morning and finding that significant work is happening at the entrance to their estate. A 2 m high platform has been erected, upon which a 20 m high mast is going to go, all deliberately without a shred of public consultation. That is the abuse that is happening currently of section 254 of the Planning and Development Act. It is a section that is really intended for advertising structures, vending machines, tables and chairs outside restaurants and so on, and it is being used now in hundreds of cases across the country by Cignal-Cellnex to put up huge masts without any consultation or notice to people. It was reported in the Irish Examinerthat in the current draft of the new planning Bill that the right of people to even appeal to An Bord Pleanála would be taken away. I am interested in the Minister of State's response as to whether that will be the case.

What has emerged in regard to Kingswood is that a very good appeal has been put in to An Bord Pleanála, which is the only route we have. We cannot go to the council or put in submissions or objections. An excellent appeal has gone into An Bord Pleanála on the grounds of the locational choice, the procedure and the circular economy. What the mast company, Cellnex, is saying is that it has the legal right to proceed even though there is an appeal in with An Bord Pleanála, which is entirely different from how the rest of the planning process operates. I have a response from South Dublin County Council to Councillor Charlie O'Connor where the council says section 254 is unclear as to whether works granted can be commenced, so the work is continuing. Cellnex is planning to put up this massive mast in July without any consultation, with an appeal still pending in An Bord Pleanála. That makes no sense whatsoever.

The fundamental point is that part of this madness is the fact that this mast is for Three Ireland. The mast we had a couple of years ago, on which the residents successfully won a judicial review, was going to be for Eircom. Different private companies are competing with each other, as opposed to an open public consultation and agreement with the community on where a mast will go to serve the entire community.

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