Buncrana residents object to OPW license for mobile phone antennae on Garda mast

by James Quigley

A public meeting will be held this Thursday, May 2 at 7pm in The Exchange, Castle Ave, Buncrana over a license granted by the Office of Public Works, (OPW) to a mobile phone company, Shared Access, to erect antennae on the existing Garda Siochana mast.

Garda Station, Ardravan, Buncrana

Kim McMenamin, spokesman for Buncrana Garda Mast Action Group called on the community to support them in stopping this potential health hazard. Despite it being a residential area, not far from schools, Community Nursing Unit and town center, a license has been granted for the erection of mobile phone antennae on the existing mast at Buncrana Garda Station. The license has been granted by the OPW to a company called Shared Access and residents have had no say in the planning process since OPW property is somehow exempt.

Mr McMenamin said that no mobile phone masts should be near residential areas because of the adverse health and safety issues and he urges planners to adopt the precautionary principle when it comes to unproven technology and the very serious health warnings from recent independent studies worldwide. In light of these credible studies it is time that all political parties support looking into what is obvious outdated official standards.

According to an OPW official dealing with mobile technology the license was granted in November 2018 to Shared Access for 3G and 4G technology. Buncrana Garda Mast Action Group (BGMAG) are waiting for official reply from OPW over many questions they have about the plan for the mast and Buncrana generally and in relation to the much hyped 5G technology. A member of BGMAG has also submitted a Section 5 Declaration of Exemption to the Donegal Planning Authority.

According to the BGMAG, there is an obvious conflict of interest here. On one hand the Government is making millions of euros from rent to private companies and on the other hand the Government Planning Authority deals with licenses and planning.

Mr McMenamin said many of the neighbours never knew about the plans until last week and they were shocked. They are even more dismayed because they are led to believe that they have no say in the matter. In light of this it will be an uphill struggle and it will need strong community support to force the authorities to change this plan.

BGMAG also appeal to An Garda Siochana, Trade Unions and Health Officials to support them. This development will affect everybody in Buncrana especially workers in concentrated wifi environments, the vulnerable and children.

Shared Access did distribute some leaflets in March but many residents did not get them.

BGMAG is totally against EMF mobile masts anywhere in residential areas whether it is 3G or 4G. However, anyone knows that once the plan is in place, the much more powerful 5G will be next.


If this plan goes ahead Buncrana will have two gigantic mobile masts at each side of the town. There is are existing mobile antennae at the West End area on the ESB mast. These two powerful antennae structures will be beaming radio frequency microwave radiation throughout Buncrana with concentrations in the center.


ESB Mast West End, Buncrana

Anna Kavanagh interviews Enda Craig on the Water Charges Betrayal

Anna Kavanagh live from Donegal interviews Enda Craig, Buncrana Together on what he sees as the great betrayal of the Irish people by Right2Water Unions and TDs.


Enda believes that it is now happening again and this time over the issue of the proposed Water Referendum. He contends that the wording is wrong because the proposal only deals with services. It is not looking at ownership of water or our right to a domestic water supply. He says that a barrister informed him that the law at present allows for the water allowances to be whittled away to nothing and could result in full water charges. This eventually will lead to privatisation in line with the competition laws of the Lisbon Treaty, Articles 102-106. He says the the present referendum delay could be a good thing because we could put pressure on the TDs.

It was the opinion of the barrister that if a person's right to a domestic water supply is enshrined in the Constitution then If the Government did try to reduce the allowances we would then have a very strong legal case to prevent that.

Irish Exemption

The Irish Exemption enshrined in Article 9.4 of the Water Framework Directive 2000 was unique to Ireland. It came about through previous anti water charges campaigns in the 1990s, bringing down one Government and forcing the incoming Fianna Fáil to insist Brussels add this 9.4 clause to the WFD. The importance of this article is that it recognised that Ireland has an established practice of funding domestic water supply through general taxation and this allowed the Irish Government to opt out of the EU’s pressure for full cost recovery.

You might think that any anti water charges group would fight tooth and nails to keep this exemption a defense mechanism against EU diktat. Right2Water barely lifted a finger.

Although it may not have been explicitly stated in Ireland’s 2nd River Basin Management Plan which has been sent to Brussels, it is our contention that the 9.4 clause still applies and this will be so until it is removed by EU. That could happen soon since, as we speak, the EU Commission is in the process of revamping the Water Framework Directive and no doubt 9.4 clause will get omitted. It remains to be seen whether any TDs will defend it.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/anna.kavanagh.102/videos/10217177366613568/

Peter Casey, 2019 European election candidate, dismisses health warnings from 5G radiation

By James Quigley

Image: 5G Awareness Inishowen Facebook page
Inset: Peter Casey

Peter Casey, a European election candidate for Midlands-North West constituency was dismissive of public fears about the health effects of EMF technology, (wireless), when he was approached on Buncrana Main Street by Mary Mack, a member of 5G Awareness Inishowen group.

Mary Mack said she bumped into Mr Casey on Main Street, Buncrana last week. She noted he had a 5G sticker on his car so asked him a few questions about it and about his stance on 5G. She told Mr Casey that she assumed that he is supporting 5G from the advertisement on his car.

When asked was the technology safe he replied “it's not dangerous.” When she asked him why the Environmental Protection Agency was not doing anything about the technology, Mr Casey replied that Ireland was sold out to the EU.

Mary is waiting for a reply from Mr Casey on social media about his official position on wireless radiation.

However, later comments he made on Facebook to questions from other members of the group seemed more belligerent or ill-informed. Comments like “sure the same thing was also said about 3G and 4G” and “they should replace it with 10G” were later deleted, but not before some members saved them. Members of 5G Awareness Inishowen have told me that they were blocked from further commenting on, not only, Mr Casey’s Facebook page but also on the page of his election agent Francis Callaghan’s.

I assume from Mr Casey’s reference to “10G” that he meant something like bring it on', the more the merrier. It reminds me of Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now, “ I love the smell of napalm in the morning”.

Clearly Mr Casey’s electioneering car has brought the question of 5G into the European election debate. Not only that but also isn’t his off-the-cuff remark ‘ Ireland being sold out to the EU’ highly topical too. I wonder what he meant by it?

For the record, could we have Mr Casey’s official position on both these subjects? And in the interest of fairness and democracy, could we have the positions of all the Irish European candidates.

Source: 5G Awareness Inishowen