OPPONENTS of the Loran C radio navigation mast proposed for Co Clare have accused the Minister for the Marine of "sinister" tactics in pushing through legislation to facilitate its construction.
All stages of the amending legislation are listed for business in the Dail tomorrow night. "We think it is a very sinister move to rush it through now," Mr John McInerney of the Cross Loran C. Action Group said.
The amended Merchant Shipping Act will permit the Commissioners of Irish Lights to run both the 720 foot mast and other radio based navigation aids for maritime safety. However, a final decision on the mast's future depends on the outcome of a planning appeal to the Supreme Court taken by the objectors.
The Department of the Marine defended the move yesterday, and said there was "no secret" about it. The amendments had been anticipated since a separate Supreme Court ruling last July, a spokeswoman told The Irish Times. That judgment had found by a three two majority that the Commissioners of Irish Lights had exceeded their powers in attempting to construct and run the mast on the Loop Head peninsula.
The ruling also upheld an earlier High Court judgment, which classified as "illegal" most of the radio based navigation aids already in existence around the 2,700 mile coastline, including, radio beacons, radar beacons, radar enhancers, the Decca navigator system and differential global positioning systems (GPS). These devices were not "light houses, buoys or beacons" as defined in the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act, the court found.
The Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, had indicated his intention to look at the legislation after this judgment, as there was an "urgent need to rectify the situation", the Department spokeswoman said.
She confirmed that the second, committee and report stages of the amended act would be taken in the Dail on Tuesday, but the Bill still had to go before the Seanad before it would become law.
The Government has been under pressure both nationally and internationally to ensure the mast is built, as part of a European agreement to improve maritime safety. The land based navigation system was adopted by nine European states, including Ireland, in an attempt to reduce dependence on the US designed satellite system, known as GPS. The Commissioners of Irish Lights have also said on record that they cannot continue to run an illegal navigational network.
The Loop Head mast was to be an integral part of the Loran C system, and the Commissioners of Irish Lights were charged, as Government agents, to build it. France and the Netherlands agreed to contribute 50 per cent and five per cent respectively of the cost.
Last month, the Department of the Marine secretary, Mr Tom Carroll, told the Dail Committee of Public Accounts that the Irish element would cost about £5 3 million. Almost £3 million had been incurred to date, he said £0.9 million by the Exchequer, £1.5 million by France and Holland, and £500,000 by the supplier and operator.
