Phone masts banned near schools until safety review
30/10/2005 - 11:54:20
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.a ... =y6x89387x
The Office of Public Works has ordered that no more mobile phone masts be put up near schools until a review of radiation levels has been carried out.
Operators of a transmitter near a second level college in Dublin have been told to switch it off until an inter-departmental committee finishes examining any potential associated health effects.
The move was announced by Tom Parlon, the minister in charge of the OPW.
It follows campaigns by a number of groups who claim people living beside phone masts are suffering ill health.
Minister Parlon said the OPW is "aware of a continued level of unease" over masts being sited near schools.
The Cabinet has established a committee to investigate all the scientific data available and it will recommend revised guidelines for telecoms installations, if deemed necessary.
The Minister has also refused permission for a mast on a government building in Sligo after 500 civil servants there threatened to go on strike if the transmitter were erected.
Up to now, no planning permission was required to erect a mast on a public building, providing they were under two metres high and notification was sent to the local authority 28 days beforehand.