Telecommunications Infrastructure
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Séamus McGrath (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I respect the fact that he is here this evening but, unfortunately, that reply does not in any way address the issues I raised in relation to these telecommunications masts being installed and erected close to residential properties and the fact that there is no provision whatsoever in the rules and regulations to ensure a safe and respectable buffer distance. The landscape of our communities and streetscapes are changing in urban areas because of the installation of these 18 m high steel poles and telecommunications masts. Residents and communities are absolutely shocked when one of these appears in their area and they realise they have had no input or say in the matter and their voice could not be heard. Of course, they turn to public representatives, but we have no answers for them because, as I said, this is a secretive and non-transparent process. The fact that local authorities do not even have to publish these applications is fundamentally wrong. The fact that there is no site notice is fundamentally wrong. It is about restoring some trust in the system here. This is under the Planning and Development Act. It is a licence application, not a planning application. However, we have to restore public trust in how these applications are administered, processed and so on. While we are all in favour of technological advances, it should not come at the total abandonment of our communities in terms of sustainable planning.
I put it to the Minister of State, as I said earlier, that if this happened to any of us in the House and we woke up to one of these 18 m high telecommunications masts being put in front of, behind or alongside our house, I am sure we would a lot have to say on the matter. I simply cannot understand how it is not provided for in the legislation that the installation of these masts should be a safe distance from a family home or a residential property. Again, I ask the Minister of State to please take that away so that this issue can be looked at with urgency.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27