Sir, - Your front page photograph of January 29th of Mrs Teresa Direen, who is bravely taking a stand in defence of the health of her children and their right to a "clean and healthy environment", serves to highlight once again the flawed Irish planning system and the ongoing efforts by the State authorities to curtail the ordinary citizen's rights to object to dangerous developments.
The ESAT/Garda agreement whereby many mobile phone antennae are to be placed on existing Garda station masts without planning permission is ingenious in that the general public have few avenues of protest.
Even where planning permission is required for new stations, the recent warning from the Garda authorities on the risk of the local community losing its station, should objections thwart the development, will reduce objections significantly.
As we witness thousands of Defence Forces claims arising from the alleged negligence of the Department of Defence on a health and safety issue, should not the alarm bells be ringing?
Will we soon witness the sight of ordinary gardai, their families and communities near Garda stations queuing up to sue the Department of Justice on another, potentially more serious health issue? - Yours, etc.,
Derry Chambers,
Cork Environmental Alliance, Princes Street, Cork.