Archive for July, 2009

Swimming ban Monday to Friday hits Fingal residents in July

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Lifeguards are not being deployed on the beaches of Fingal Monday to Friday during June & July unlike Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown due to cut backs in Fingal County Council spending.

Despite the fact that the hiring of lifeguards has a derogation from the recruitment ban, Fingal County Council has yet to employ any lifeguards for June or July from 11am to 7pm Monday to Friday for any of its beaches.

“With children now off school at secondary & primary level it is a very dangerous situation to find the beaches of Fingal to have NO weekday lifeguards on duty. Fingal has not one beach with a blue flag, now the yellow & red flags wont fly for July as Lifeguards are only retained for weekend duties” according to Brian Greene public representative for the Socialist Party in Dublin North East

The Fingal County Council website says “The public are advised not to swim when the beach is not guarded. Due to staffing restrictions some beaches may not be guarded during the season.” and “week day cover may commence from the 3rd of August 2009 until the last week of August. This will depend on staff levels and weather.” So there is no guarantee that August will have lifeguard cover either.

The cuts in staff levels has already angered beach goers as the litter problems of May mounted up. “Now life saving duties on our beaches are being scaled back because of the savage cuts from central government. It is high time the Minister for the Environment and green party leader John Gormley reinstated the funds the council requires to provide essential services to the public” Mr. Greene said.

In previous years Fingal County Council has staffed the beaches with life guards Monday to Sunday in July. “Having lifeguards stationed on beaches in one on the criteria in getting a blue flag for a beach. Stationing lifeguards in July 2009 can only assist in the regaining of blue flags for Fingal where we now have none.” according to Mr. Greene

Posted in Environment | No Comments »

Bayside Public Pressure finally axes second mobile phone mast!

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

update:  Vodafone mast at Bayside Square was removed at 9am this morning after it lost its battle following discovery it had *NO* planning permission 6:14 PM Aug 13th

Issue explained in latest podcast 13/09/2009 [MP3]

Earlier this year Meteor’s attempts to site a mobile phone antenna at Bayside Square were stopped by prompt and vocal opposition from local residents. The application had attempted to claim exemption from planning permission, but this was refused by the Council following residents’ objections. The Council refused the exemption on the grounds that a childcare facility was operating from the same address.

During the campaign spearheaded by Socialist Party public representative in the area Brian Greene, it emerged that for a number of months a second Vodafone mast had been operating above the building at Bayside Square without the knowledge of most residents.

For almost four months we have had to push and encourage the Council to take action on this matter. Initially they indicated that this second mast did not have permission. Later they said that it had an exemption from years back and was not operating without permission! Now Fingal County Council’s Planning Department has finally informed us that Vodafone will be instructed to take the mast down.

The Socialist Party welcomes this decision as a vindication of the stance taken by the local community and as a tribute to all who played a part in keeping up the pressure. However there are many important lessons for the future which should not be forgotten.

This mast and many like it show that the community does not get sufficient input into the sensible siting of phone masts and that many breaches and irregularities are taking place without adequate control or action. That a mast can operate for almost 12 months with Site IDs and be advertised on the ComReg website while in breach of planning law shows the total lack of any proper enforcement and monitoring.

Phone users need signal, but it is very important that communities are protected by adherence to the precautionary approach of planning phone masts. The Bayside antenna had a Microlink Dish connected to a residential dwelling above the shops, disguised as a chimney flue to hide over 2000 micro watts per metre squared of elecromagnetic radiation. This is a disgrace and cannot be allowed to happen again.

Only community vigilance and public pressure insured that the mast at Bayside will now be removed. Our communities deserve regulations and enforcement that puts the health of residents above the convenience of the phone companies.

Information issued by Socialist Party local representative Brian Greene-

web http://www.HowthMalahide.com

email brian@socialistparty.net

Posted in Bayside, ICT | No Comments »