Phone mast restriction to be commended
It is refreshing to see a county council put its people before the large profits telecommunications companies enjoy.
The Black Valley has been used as a scaremongering ploy by the telecommunications companies in an effort to undermine the guidelines in Kerry County Council's development plan, particularly in relation to the 1km restriction on phone masts being located near dwellings.
By implementing and enforcing this 1km restriction, the council is merely bringing into play the precautionary principle the Government and some other county councils have chosen to ignore.
Our group knows of numerous people nationwide who suffer adverse health effects (headaches, fatigue, hearing problems, etc) seemingly from exposure to microwave emissions from phone masts.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has also acknowledged those who are suffering in this regard and, after much research and interaction with the various groups involved, issued recommendations to the Government one of which includes the 1km restriction on phone masts near schools, hospitals, nursing homes, crèches, etc.
We also know of numerous areas and towns where cancer clusters have arisen in the past four or five years, but the Government and health executives have chosen to ignore this by not investigating the higher than average rates of cancer among the populations in these relatively small areas (all with phone masts within 100m to 500m) to determine whether radiation emissions are a factor.
The Department of Health says the Government stands by and applies the precautionary principle in relation to microwave emissions from phone masts but only on paper, it seems.
John Cummins
Pearse Street
Cahir
Co Tipperary.
