Cianan Brennan: What unsavoury secrets lie within the new 738-page long Planning Bill? 

News the bill will remove citizens' right to appeal the installation of certain mobile phone masts begs the question: what other nasty surprises could be hidden away inside the enormous bill?

Citizens seeking to appeal the granting of a licence for a mobile phone mast in their locality would have that right denied to them should the bill be approved in full in its current guise.

News that the new Planning Bill before the Oireachtas — if approved — would remove citizens' right to appeal the installation of certain mobile phone masts begs the question: what other nasty surprises could be hidden away inside the enormous bill?

At present, the legislation is 738 pages long. Monday’s story in the Irish Examiner concerned just nine lines of that text. If such a tiny segment of this massive whole is so controversial, it does not bode well for the other 737-and-a-half pages.