Bill would remove right to appeal against telecoms mast licences

Under Section 254 applications, licences require no formal planning permission for construction. More recently, they have been used for the installation of mobile signal-boosting masts. Picture: Larry Cummins

Opponents of controversial telecommunications masts will not be able to appeal the granting of licences for them under planning laws currently before the Oireachtas.

The Department of Housing’s 780-page draft bill only allows appeals in such cases - known as Section 254 applications - where the licence has been refused. 

A footnote within the controversial new bill - which has been under consideration by the Oireachtas for several months and which is published in full on the Government's website - even appears to query the rationale for removing that right of appeal. 

“Is there a reason why they should not be allowed to appeal the grant or continuation of a licence?” the footnote asks. Sources have suggested the footnote's author may be a legal professional charged with reviewing the legislation.

'Blatant attack on rights'

The removal of the right of appeal has been branded outrageous by planning solicitor Eoin Brady who said it "represents a blatant attack on democratic rights of public participation in environmental decision-making". He said the amendment likely came "from lobbying from the telecoms industry”.

Under Section 254 applications, licences require no formal planning permission for construction. They cost €125 to lodge with a local authority, and are typically used by pubs and restaurants, for example, to place tables and chairs on the streets.

More recently, they have been used for the installation of mobile signal-boosting masts, typically between 15m and 20m in height, without the need for planning permission by using the provision of the act which grants such licences for infrastructure running alongside a public road.

While such applications do not require planning permission, they can at present be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

The draft planning bill at present states that anyone who has made an observation or submission about the application for such a licence can, within four weeks of the local authority’s decision, appeal a refusal, the conditions attached to a granted licence, or the revocation of a licence. No mention is made of applications which have been granted.

A Department of Housing spokesperson said the section referenced “does allow enable (sic) citizens the right of appeal in such cases”.

A follow-up query noting that appeals are allowed for refusals, conditions, and revocations, but not grants, had not been replied to at the time of publication.

Mr Brady, who has filed a number of judicial reviews about such telecommunications masts, noted that S254 applications have “up until now not got much attention, primarily due to the fact that communities only become aware that consent for masts have been granted when they are erected”.

He noted the new bill as it stands would “entirely remove" the public's right to appeal a decision to grant consent for mobile phone masts and that the amendment had been “buried deep within the almost 800 pages of the planning bill, with no notification that such a fundamental erosion of people’s rights was being proposed”.

Meanwhile, when the Irish Examiner asked the Department regarding the aforementioned footnote querying why granted or continued licences could not be appealed, a spokesperson replied that it had referred “to an earlier iteration of the section in question, that should not have been included in the published draft bill”, adding that the “error is being rectified”.  

While the footnote was subsequently deleted from the bill published on the Department’s website, the timestamp on the site remained as ‘Last updated on 26 January 2023’