Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply to both matters. I appreciate that he is delivering it on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell. I hand it to the Minister of State, that he has done one thing, in that in one speech he has really nailed section 254. It is a sneaky little exemption that allows local authorities to do an end run around the planning law. That is what we all collectively find so totally unacceptable. Where will it stop?

Will power generation plants be allowed next under a provision such as section 254? This is ridiculous. The section was never designed for this. It was introduced, in my maybe-too-cynical view, because too many problems were being found with the regular planning process and in getting these masts up. However, we have to put a stop to it now. We have, with the new planning legislation, an opportunity to do so. Section 10 can and should reflect the doing away with of the exception. As alluded to by Deputy Paul Murphy, Deputy Lahart and me, all people want is fairness in the application process. We are not Luddites against masts; we are opposed to a sneaky process that allows companies to do an end run around consultation with residents, communities and the people most affected.

I will close with one point. A home I saw the other day has a mast that is over 20 m high approximately 3 m from the side wall. It was provided by a local authority, which banged it in on a piece of grass by the footpath. Could any body other than a local authority get away with that? The answer is that it could not.

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