Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his contribution. It is important we discuss this issue although I do not understand why the Minister of State did not simply accept the motion. There is very little in it to which he could be opposed and he could have made a minor amendment to it if an empowerment provision needed to be included. There is very little in it that would cause a problem for the Government.

It is important to amend the guidelines because we need to give ordinary people confidence in regard to this issue. People are all over the place in dealing with it. They do not understand it and because of that they are worried, and because they are worried, they oppose proposals in regard to it. It will be a mistake for the House to divide on this motion tonight. It was a mistake by the Government side to oppose it. If minor amendments were required, they could have been made through negotiation and discussion.

The reality is that every change of significance in society confuses people and leads them to react against it. When the first motor cars came on the scene, a motorist was required to have a person walk ahead of the car carrying a white flag to indicate a car was approaching and for people to take care. Concern has been expressed about every social development. When I was young, I remember a debate such as this on the danger of radiation from luminous watches. It was said at the time that they would radiate the country. It was predicted that we would all die from radiation emitted from luminous dials on our watches. It was said they would exude radiation, but nobody has died as a result of their introduction.

When mobile telephones came on the market prior to concerns about telecommunication masts, it was said we would all develop brain cancer and that our ears would be affected. There were copious acres of newsprint on this issue. The problem with these issues is that the debates on them gain legs until such time as issue no longer has any impact.

It was right for Fine Gael to table this motion. We could all have said that if there is a problem, we will find out what it is, advise people — who are genuinely concerned about the issue — of all the information we have on it and let them make up their own minds. That would have been a confidence building measure, which would have been hugely important.

We are discussing an area that is very transient. The Taoiseach made a comment at the weekend that broadband would be connected to every single house, although he did not say when that would be done. I am not sure how broadband will be provided but more than likely some of it will be provided via satellite. Masts will be obsolete is a short period. The first time we discussed the 087 system in this House, which must be ten years ago, I asked why we were going to the bother of erecting masts and why we did not simply use a satellite system. Such a system is now available to people who travel all over the world and people giving news reports from the middle of a desert or elsewhere can tune into a satellite and use it. It enables global coverage. Prices have come down and it now costs less than a dollar a minute to use a satellite telephone. That is the future for this industry.

What we are discussing will become irrelevant. No doubt somebody will say the satellites will fall on top of us, drop poison on us, radiate us out of existence or whatever other story a next news editor or features editor, with a gap to fill on a Tuesday morning, decides to include in a newspaper. Our job is to simply reassure people. I do not believe there is a problem with the masts. However, that means nothing as that is simply my personal view. If somebody asked me to prove that, and I suspect this is the point of the Fine Gael motion, I could not prove it. If I were asked how I know that, and told I am wrong, I could not produce the chapter and verse on it. However, I would like to be able to say that this is an issue about which public representatives are also concerned, that we have examined it and the general view of all parties is that all the information on it should be available to all the people. In that sense, we should do what Fine Gael is asking for tonight. If the Radiological Protection Institute is not the appropriate body to do what is proposed, we can agree on another body to do it. The Fine Gael motion is not tied into one issue in that if a person put forward an amendment to the effect that some other body should do what is proposed, I believe it would have been accepted.

It is six or seven months to an election but the wording of the amendment to the motion in commending the Government and so on has changed the motion beyond recognition. Under genuine Standing Orders, this amendment would not be acceptable because it is a direct negative of the motion. I know that does not happen any more. The amendment is a direct negative in that it proposes voting against the motion. It does not make sense. It does not help any of us on any side of the House. We should simply do what is required. If Members in their contributions want to commend the Government, that is fine. There is no doubt much work has been done by the Government in this area. I do not deny that and I have no problem with it but it is not the issue with which we are dealing.

We are totally dependent on mobile telephones. Many people object to the siting of masts, but there is an element of hypocrisy in this respect. For example, people give interviews on mobile telephones complaining about the masts that are driving the technology to enable the interview to take place. That is happening throughout the country. There is a double think on this issue. I do not know the answer but we had a way tonight of finding it. In fairness to Fine Gael, it did not attack the Government in the motion. It simply expressed the concern of the House about this issue. The motion does not drive a shaft into the heart of Government. I thought the wording was reasonable and that it could have been accepted.

I will not take up the time of the House any longer on this issue. Mobile telephones are an essential part of our communications and infrastructural systems. They are crucial to all businesses and people in all walks of life. They are essential for the security of children and people travelling alone. We would have difficulty living without mobile telephones now. I am not talking about so-called nerdy people but people who use them in all walks of life. Mobile telephones have brought reassurance and protection to many people.

We are all committed to mobile telephones. The calls must be transmitted in some way. It is being done currently through masts. If there is a problem with masts, we must be told about it. We can deal with it by simply putting the whole system on satellite. There is no difficulty about doing that. In fact, it is much easier. With one geostationary satellite we would have a footprint for the whole island. We should take up the space for that and deliver it on that basis. It could be done easily.

I support what Fine Gael is trying to establish in this motion, which is to obtain the necessary information to reassure people. I ask the Government, even at this late stage, to consider not pressing its amendment and to support the motion.