Limerick residents up in arms over erection of 5G mast

NORTHSIDE residents are angry after council granted a licence for a huge mobile telephone mast in a built up area.

A massive fifth generation receiver has been erected on the site of the Woodview Shopping Centre.

Local activist Pat O'Neill has been in contact with the council, and was told the 15-metre poll was given a licence under section 254 of the planning act.

For its part, the local authority confirmed this was the case, saying it is “in line with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”

“The pole was deemed necessary as the area is a known blackspot for mobile and wireless broadband and supports 2G, 3G and 4G compatible antennae, meaning automatically better coverage in the area. It is also equipped with a 5G antenna for future development. Similar poles have been erected around the country in similar locations to improve mobile and wireless broadband coverage,” the council spokesman said.

But Mr O’Neill responded: “A few residents have contacted me in relation to this. Where the mast is, Coolraine Heights is in front of it, and Woodview is behind it. They just wanted to know what's going on.”

Mr O'Neill said if the mast was in a field in an area not as built up, there probably would not have been an issue.

“But to have it right in the heart of a residential area leaves me concerned. No-one was informed in relation to the residents, and I did ask them if contacts had been made through residents associations or letter to any residents around. People just see work going on, and they don't think," he told the Limerick Leader.

Mr O'Neill, who stood for Fianna Fail on the northside in last summer's local election, added: “Residents are obviously concerned about radiation. It's in such a built -up area.

Ideally you want to stop these things prior to them being erected not when they are up and people feel vulnerable, and not told.”

Residents have been told they can appeal the permission to An Bord Pleanala.

This comes against the backdrop of a bizarre but baseless conspiracy theory which has linked the development of 5G to the spread of coronavirus.

The thinking is that the rollout of faster internet is accelerating the virus’s spread.  It’s led to with several arson attacks on 5G masts.