Vol. 442 No. 7
1 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he will establish an independent health and safety advisory committee to examine the safety or otherwise of MMDS masts in respect of their output of radiation.
Inquiries under the health and safety legislation are a matter for the health and safety authority. In considering the introduction of the MMDS system, detailed research was carried out and the findings of expert studies from around the world have clearly shown that it is a safe system. Those operating MMDS systems in Ireland are obliged to comply with strict guidelines based on this research. Actual measurements have confirmed that MMDS in this country is operating well within the internationally accepted limits. In view of the wealth of evidence already available in this area, I do not propose to initiate further investigation of the issue.
Is the Minister aware there is widespread community concern about MMDS masts and other structures? Will he agree that this concern is valid and that studies undertaken by his Department were never brought to the attention of people with these concerns? Will he undertake to make those studies and research papers available to people so that they may peruse them and arrive at the conclusion — which the Minister has just articulated — that these structures and this MMDS system are not a danger to health?
Some concern is being expressed in certain parts of the country resulting from confusion that has arisen. There are a number of different groups with vested interests who are maintaining an illegal broadcasting service outside the regulatory regime, resulting in the nonpayment of any royalties, VAT or anything else. They have an interest in maintaining the status quo, and the spread of confusion on a whole range of issues, including this one, assists them in prolonging the existence of these stations. I can assure the Deputy and the people in these areas that there are no grounds whatsoever for concern in relation to health. I ask that that assurance be accepted by all concerned and that nobody on either side of this House should give succour to any suggestion that there are dangers to health.
The studies to which Deputy Hogan refers were undertaken by our own technical adviser, Dr. McManus, whose report is and has been made available to anyone on request, so there is no problem about that. In relation to the international position, within the last five years the health advisory organisations in a number of countries have re-examined their guidelines. Last year the World Health Organisation updated and published its guidelines. With one or two exceptions the recommended limits for public exposure is ten watts per square metre, those one or two exceptions allowing for an even higher wattage per square metre.
This level is endorsed by the World Health Organisation, Austria, Canada, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the International Radiation Protection Association. Within the last five years the health advisory organisations conducted these studies. Actual measured level of emissions in the vicinity of operating MMDS stations in Cork and Galway show that within 200 feet of the masts, field strengths are of the order of 0.0003 watts per square metre. Further away strengths fall to 0.0001 watts per square metre. When these stations are fully operational and broadcasting on all channels, peak field strengths could be expected to reach 0.004 watts per square metre and typical levels would be less than 0.001 watts per square metre. These are extremely low exposures. To give an example, human bodies emit electro magnetic radiation of a magnitude higher than some of the readings here.
I am certainly aware there is confusion and the Minister's officials are helping to spread it. The Minister has been on radio——
The Deputy made a lot of politics out of it.
I am a politician and so is the Minister. I am a very responsible politician.
There is no need for this. There should be no reference to officials, the Minister is responsible.
The Minister is helping to spew radiation in terms of the misinformation he is giving in respect of this issue.
The Deputy has a new job now.
The Deputy should be allowed to continue without interruption.
The information the Minister gave today is at variance with an Eolas report on the same centres. Why is the Minister's information different from the Eolas report of June 1993 in respect of the radiation output?
I thought this was Question Time.
I cannot dwell unduly long on any one priority question. Brevity must be the key note of our proceedings.
I will be very brief. In view of the fact that there is an ESB health indemnification agreement with land and property owners, will he be in a position to give the same guarantees through an indemnified agreement where MMDS transmitters are erected?
I have no problem in putting in writing exactly what I say here or in supporting the expert studies carried out by our technical advisers. These are the people on whom we rely and who have a capacity in this area. Perhaps I could make comparisons with other sources of radiation so that people understand what we are talking about. On a summer day sunlight exposes us to 590 watts per square metre of infra-red radiation where frequencies range from 300 billion cycles per second to 385 trillion cycles per second. The universal all prevailing microwave field, to which everyone is exposed, is the electro magnetic radiation produced by the earth and everything on it by virtue of its temperature. The human body emits radiation and frequencies up to 300 billion cycles per second and the strength of this field is 0.003 watts per square metre. The bottom line is that standing next to someone can expose you to as much, and probably more, microwave radiation than one would ever experience from an MMDS transmitter.
