Vol. 486 No. 1
327 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the independent research, if any, that has been initiated by her Department or the Director of Telecommunication Regulations to investigate the health concerns of people residing near mobile telephone masts. [1524/98]
In 1996 a major review of the health issues raised by non-ionising electromagnetic radiation was carried out by the International Commission on Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) — who are advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on such matters. The report concluded that there is no substantive evidence of adverse health effects from exposure to levels of non-ionising radiation at levels at or below those set in 1988 by the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA).
The IRPA guidelines are applied in Ireland through the licences held by mobile telephony operators. It is a matter for the Director of Tele-communications Regulation to ensure compliance with these requirements. The director is in the process of putting in place a system of monitoring electromagnetic radiation emissions for this purpose.
Further research in this area has been proposed recently in a report commissioned by the European Commission and I can confirm that my Department will be monitoring international developments and, as necessary, participating in the comprehensive programmes of research being undertaken to ensure that the most up-to-date standards are applied to emissions here.
As part of the response of my Department to this issue, a major international conference is being planned for early March. It is my intention that the conference will serve to address comprehensively the health issues being raised by people throughout the country in relation to the roll out of communications infrastructures.
