Abandon loop head mast - Local FF TDs

The Department of the Marine and Natural Resources should abandon its contentious plans to locate a 720-ft radio navigation mast at Loop Head, a Clare Fianna Fail TD, Mr Brendan Daly, said yesterday.

Mr Daly was commenting ahead of the expiry today of the five-year planning permission for the mast granted by An Bord Pleanala on November 4th, 1994.

Since 1992, when plans for the erection of the mast were first announced, the proposal has been ensnared in the planning and legal process due to opposition from locals in west Clare, who formed the Cross Loran C Action Group opposing the plan on health and environmental grounds.

The development received the go-ahead from the appeals board in 1994. However, plans to construct the mast were frustrated by the action group after High Court and Supreme Court victories in 1995 and 1996.

But in April of last year, the Supreme Court finally paved the way for the erection of the mast. After the ruling, the Minister, Dr Woods, said the mast would not be constructed without public consultation. Furthermore, before the mast could be erected, special legislation would have to be brought before the Oireachtas.

Mr Daly said yesterday that apart from a visit by the Minister to west Clare in July 1998, there had been no sign of public consultation on the issue. He said: "There is little indication of any urgency and the wisest move would be to abandon the proposal."

Underlining local opposition to the plan, Clare's other Fianna Fail TDs, Mr Tony Killeen and the Minister for the Arts, Ms de Valera, reiterated their opposition to the plan yesterday.

Senator Madeleine Taylor Quinn (FG) welcomed the expiry of planning permission for the mast. The Kilrush-based senator said if the Minister proceeded with plans to erect the mast, by the time it was completed the technology would be obsolete.

Despite the planning permission expiring today, a spokesman for Dr Woods said an expert study was being conducted to establish the feasibility of the reconfiguration of the Loran C system, so as to reduce the height and power output of the mast with a view to addressing local concerns.

Stressing that the Minister was also conscious of the Government meeting its obligations under the international Loran C agreement, the spokesman added that Dr Woods would engage in public consultation after the study was completed. He could not say when the study would be concluded.