A proposed telecommunications mast will be a "complete eyesore", ruining the view of the "spectacular" Luas bridge in south Dublin, local residents have claimed. They have also expressed concern about the perceived health risks to residents of the Old Rectory Park and Taney Road area of Dundrum.
A campaign group has appealed to the local community to lodge individual objections with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council against the mast on the power sub-station at Taney Road. The ESB has rejected the allegations and a claim that it was being "opportunistic" in seeking to locate the mast in this area.
A spokesman said the ESB had pioneered a new "five-lamp mast" design to minimise the visual intrusion so it would be in keeping with public lighting. It only made applications for essential communications needs and its standard "falls well within the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation".
Ms Carmel Dermody, an engineer and a campaigner against the mast, said the same arguments were made in the past about cigarettes "and look where that led". Health risks had not been disproved and there were schools, kindergartens and play areas in the locality.
An initial ESB application was declared invalid when the local authority ruled the company had not put the site notices in an area accessible to the public.
