Parlon criticised over plan to erect mast near school

A proposal to erect a mobile phone mast on a public building near a fee-paying, south Dublin school has been criticised.

The Office of Public Works is to erect the mast on a building that houses the Central Statistics Office in Rathmines, next door to St Mary's College, a primary and secondary school for boys.

The mast is being erected on Ardee House as part of the "Transforming State Assets Programme" introduced by the Minister of State for the OPW, Mr Tom Parlon. He appointed consultants Vilicom to oversee the erection of telecommunication masts on State buildings as part of the programme.

Vilicom earmarked 12 buildings suitable for masts and Ardee House is the first to get the go-ahead. Planning guidelines recommend that no mast should be erected within 50 metres of a school, but masts can be erected on public buildings without planning permission.

It is understood that staff at the CSO have met Vilicom and expressed concerns about the mast. But they have been told that it will go ahead. The Civil and Public Service Union has said that it will now take up the issue on behalf of staff.

The principal of St Mary's College, Mr Clive Byrne, said that the school was very worried by the decision. "When the OPW announced this scheme in April 2004, they said that schools were exempt," Mr Byrne said. "Why then is it acceptable to put a mast within 25 yards of a school?"

He said the board and parents were particularly concerned given the findings of a recent British study that suggested possible health risks to children from mobile phones. "Though we have been assured that the mast will conform to current safety standards, there is no way of knowing what safety standards will be introduced in the future, when more will be known about the effects," he said.

An OPW spokesman said that under the terms of the licence the mobile phone operator was required to comply with health and safety legislation.

Local Fianna Fáil representative Mr Chris Andrews has highlighted a statement from the chief medical officer at the Department of Health and Children, Dr Jim Kiely, which said that "the precautionary principle should apply and the proposition that electromagnetic fields may have some possible effect on human health cannot be discounted into the future". Mr Andrews said Mr Parlon was "clearly not taking the precautionary route".