Mick Clifford: The Sligo community fighting Paul Hyde's mast decision 

The move to grant an appeal was in complete conflict with the assessments of both the local authority and An Bord Pleanála’s own planning inspector

Groundwork in progress at the site of a proposed mast near Skreen, Co Sligo. Picture: James Connolly

The boot of the car was left open, the document sitting inside it. There were pens on hand, and wipes and masks and sanitiser. One by one, members of the community came along throughout the day, some on foot, others driving. They signed their names and left promptly in deference to the social restrictions. By the time the winter’s evening closed in and the boot was closed, nearly 100 signatures had been gathered.

So it went in a small rural community in Co Sligo at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The signatures went towards an objection to the erection of a telecommunications mast in their midst. There was nothing unusual in the people of Doonflin-Grangebeg resisting the imposition of a piece of infrastructure which they felt was totally inappropriate. What was different was the circumstances in which they were forced to organise their resistance, the physical restrictions on attempting to source the “meitheal” that bonds a small community. What was shocking about the whole affair was an outcome which appears to make a mockery of the whole basis for a democratic planning system.