Development in the case of antenna installations at Bayside Square have been rapid this week. Following local press coverage (Northside People 16/02) , leaflets and notice of a Socialist Party public meeting, I have learned that on February 17th Fingal County Council have written to Threefold / Meteor and informed them that the application for exemption will not proceed due the the fact that a childcare service operates from the same premises. This halts the mobile phone company from proceeding with exemptions but would leave them open to go down the normal planning route.

As the organiser of Wednesday 25/02 meeting I got a telephone call from the owner of the premises who was eager to alert me and anyone attending the meeting that the Council had indeed halted this application and he also confirmed to me that the mobile phone company would NOT be proceeding with the application through the normal planning route. He also informed me that a 3rd planning application with regard to the redevelopment of Bayside Square was at an advanced stage and that planning notice would soon be made and at this stage there would be no further applications for antenna at this premises.

I queried the existing antenna on the roof at the Squash & Leisure building with the buildings owner and after some confirmation of equipment I was informed by him that Vodafone had a “booster” station on the roof with cabinets on the squash courts. I checked with ComReg site www.siteviewer.ie and Vodafone site ID DN744 is situated at Bayside Square. Having monitored but never seen planning or exemption applications for this installation I searched the planning files at Fingal County Council. I wrote to FCC Planning and their own searches were unable to find planning having been granted at the site. I have been informed that the development appears to be UNAUTHORISED DEVELOPMENT.

Community vigilance to date may result in not one but two mobile base station installations not being sited so close to houses and childcare facilities at Bayside Squuare. The process is far from over, as we learned in Baldoyle, the process must be monitored and pursued, retention of planning may be sought or a fresh application may have to be observed. The mobile phone industry has yet to learn to include residents in the sensible citing of base stations in our communities, they still continue to use the exemption route where possible to fast track development and exclude citizens from having an input in the planning process.

I would like to thank the vigilance of the community in Bayside which has brought about the developments at such a rapid pace.

Issued by Clare Daly and Joe Higgins (socialistparty.net)

The announcement of the virtual closure of SR Technics aircraft maintenance base at Dublin airport, with the loss of over 1000 jobs, will have the same devastating impact on north and west Dublin as the closure of Waterford Glass and DELL on Waterford and Limerick respectively.

Councillor Daly, an Aer Lingus shop-steward said, “The root of this crisis lies in the privatisation of both TEAM Aer Lingus by a Fianna Fail/Labour government and of Aer Lingus by a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government. As part of the neo liberal agenda that is currently wreaking such havoc on the economy, control of both companies was handed over to uncaccountable vulture capitalists whose only remit is maximisation of profit for private shareholders.

‘SR Technics was formed out of the old Aer Lingus Maintenance & Engineering section. It was given away for practically nothing to FLS and later sold on to SR Technics.

The Aer Lingus fleet has expanded over the past decades, if anything the number of jobs should be increasing. Instead outsourcing has resulted in those jobs going outside the country. Many of the workers are our former Aer Lingus colleagues, they should be still in employment alongside us.”

She continued, “It is nauseating and downright hypocritical of government TDs to shed crocodile tears about these job losses as if they could not be helped. Privatisation is the reason that one thousand families are being plunged into this crisis. The maintenance & engineering functions still need to be undertaken. In fact with the expansion of Dublin airport they need to be increased. Instead the government stood by when Aer Lingus axed the contracts last year despite owning 25% of the company. It is profiteering and greed that has caused this.”

Re Nationalise SR Technics And Aer Lingus
Joe Higgins said, ‘It is simply unthinkable that 1,075 full time jobs and 60 apprenticeships should be destroyed at a stroke and more especially against the background of rapidly rising unemployment elsewhere in the economy.

It is the case that aircraft servicing is critically necessary for the vast number of aircraft using Irish airports. SR Technics and Aer Lingus should both be renationalised. The staff from both companies should be central to planning a secure future for crucial services provided by both and in the process maintaining the thousands of jobs dependent on both.

It is simply obscene that vulture capitalists should have free reign to devastate thousands of good jobs and in the process destroy countless livelihoods and communities in the process in search of private profit.’