Trim residents demand removal of masts near estate

Residents of a Trim estate held a protest on Saturday calling for a mast to be removed from the estate and for other nearby masts to be transferred from residential areas to a greenfield site outside the town. Mornington Heights residents and councillors gathered in the estate on the cold Saturday afternoon to highlight their concerns about having the structure on the green in the estate and also concerns about the proximity of other masts in the area to the estate, local primary and secondary schools and St Joseph"s Hospital. Councillors Ray Butler, Gerry Reilly, Jimmy Fegan and Jimmy Peppard attended the protest and addressed the crowd. Local residents say they want all telecommunications units to be installed on one mast outside the centre of the town, away from residential areas. Anna Maria Barry, public relations manager with Chorus NTL, which owns the structure at Mornington Green, said: 'The site contains a head-end to receive TV signal - the distribution of the signal is channelled underground to customers in Trim in order to receive their TV service. The site also contains equipment for a third party who has a licence to do so. 'Regarding the head end Chorus NTL has located at this site, there should be no cause for concern regarding emissions as it is an enclosed system and Chorus NTL is not using it as a radio transmitting aerial.' She said that the site had been erected in 1985/1986 and added that there was no housing development in the vicinity during this time. The site was purchased by Cable Management Ireland (now Chorus NTL) from a local operator in 1991. Ms Barry said that engineers are willing to meet with residents and councillors on-site with their own qualified independent engineer and would talk them through what equipment is there. She added that the company has an 'open door" policy and that their door is open to anybody who wishes to make an enquiry. On Saturday, residents also highlighted health concerns in the area and said they want the HSE to carry out a health audit in the estate to try to find out what has caused illnesses among a number of local residents. While there is no suggestion of any link between the masts in the area and the illnesses, Mornington Heights residents claim nine people have died of cancer in the last few years, many of them young mothers, and that 11 others have been receiving treatment for cancer. Kathleen Hackett said, in the last year, four women had died, three were in their 40s and one was only 33. A teenage boy also died of cancer in the last few years, one woman receiving treatment is only in her 20s and an 20-month-old baby was diagnosed with a tumour before Christmas, Mrs Hackett said. Mrs Hackett added: 'We want the HSE to do a report into health in the area. There is bound to be something causing it. There are 500 people in the estate; no other estate has that rate of cancer. We want the HSE to look at it. We are not going to stop until we get to the bottom of it,' she said. She pointed out that the estate is built on a former landfill site and questioned whether a proper radon barrier is in place in the Mornington Heights houses. Resident Trish Brady said her sister, Rose Keogh, had died of lung cancer last October when she was only 47 and that her best friend, Delia Toole, had died of cancer in November. Phil Ayton is a sister-in-law of Delia Toole and said she was only 48 when she died. 'She has two grown-up kids but they still needed their mother,' she said. 'The two girls were very good friends and were too young to die. We have to get something done. A lot of people have lost people up here,' said Mrs Ayton. Cllr Ray Butler said they will be sending a letter to HSE, signed by the residents, calling for a report into illnesses in the area.