A GROUP in Mayo is objecting to plans to build a mast for the new mobile phone network on a hill that can be seen by more than 30 villages.
According to Ms Mary Casey chairwoman of the Carracastle Environmental Action Group, the hill in Carracastle is a focal point for at least 34 of the surrounding villages. "It's visible up to a 15 mile radius. Putting a mast on it will prevent it being used as a tourist attraction for horse trekking and walking."
Another group member, Ms Geraldine O'Donnell, said the 30 metre communications mast, to be built by the second GSM phone operator, Esat Digiphone, will "destroy a very nice hill from which there is incredible scenery Mayo County Council granted planning permission for the mast on June 10th.
The hill overlooks a park dedicated to John Healy, the journalist and author who died in 1991. One of his books, Nineteen Acres, is the story of a small holding in the village. The opening paragraph of this book is inscribed on a brass plate in the park, which was opened in 1994 by EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn.
A spokesman for Esat Digiphone said the company has been granted planning permission for 80 masts around the State. It has come to a commercial arrangement with Coillte, the State forestry agency that owns the land. One in five of the company's planning applications has been appealed to An Bord Pleanala.
Ms O'Donnell said the hill means a lot to an awful lot of people". Emigrants to the United States in the last century carved their names in the stones, and a number of their descendants return to the hill to find the name.
"First of all we're objecting to the look of the thing and secondly there is no guarantee that this kind of mast isn't dangerous." She said the development was "not going to create anything that people would like".
The planning decision must be appealed a month from the date it was granted. The group said it will lodge its appeal in time for tomorrow's deadline.