Fox demands deal on mobile phone masts for Wicklow

Further trouble is in store for the Government over its controversial deal with the Independent TD Mr Harry Blaney to stop the erection of a mobile phone mast on a Garda station in Donegal.

A second Independent TD, Ms Mildred Fox, is now calling for a similar deal in her constituency. "If contracts for mobile phone masts can be set aside in Donegal, they should be set aside in Wicklow," she stated last night.

Meanwhile, the Government is expected to come under increasing pressure in the Dail this week to make a comprehensive public statement about the future of the contract between the Garda Siochana and Esat Digifone allowing mobile phone antennae to be installed on Garda stations throughout the State.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice confirmed last night that no contact had been made with Esat Digifone on the matter. Talks were expected to take place with the company during the week.

Ms Fox, another of the four Independent TDs on whom the minority Coalition depends for support, said there had been objections to a number of proposed masts in Wicklow. However, people in her constituency had not broken the law but had opposed them through the planning process. She was referring to the deal brokered between the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and Mr Blaney, last Wednesday morning in order to secure his vote for the Budget in the Dail that night.

Local protesters in Kerrykeel,Co Donegal, clashed with 150 gardai who had been drafted into the village last Wednesday to oversee the erection of the new mast at the Garda station. Five protesters were arrested. Amid speculation that he would not travel to the Dail for the Budget, Mr Blaney received a commitment from Mr O'Donoghue that while the Garda mast would be erected, no Esat Digifone antennae would be put on it.

The spokesman for the Department of Justice said last night the erection of the Esat Digifone antennae had been "put on hold" pending consultations with locals. Asked to confirm if it had been shelved, he replied that "put on hold is the correct way of putting it".

The deputy leader of Fine Gael, Mrs Nora Owen, who negotiated the contract between the Garda Siochana and Esat Digifone in 1996, called on the Minister for Justice to outline the extent to which individual lobbying by TDs would influence decisions of Garda management on the matter.

"The notion that Garda decisions would be subject to case by case interference by the Minister, based on the political expediency of any given day is one that must be seriously questioned," she stated.

She also called on the Minister to clarify whether his Department and the Departments of Public Enterprise and the Environment had now reversed the 1996 decision which allowed licensed mobile phone operators to use Garda masts subject to certain conditions to prevent the proliferation of masts throughout the country.