SCOTSTOWN, SCOTSHOUSE COMMUNITIES UP IN ARMS OVER MASTS

PETER HUGHES

Plans by telecommuniations company Eir to erect masts in central locations close to residences in the villages of Scotstown and Scotshouse in Co Monaghan have met with concerted community opposition. Campaigns to have work on the masts halted have been initiated in both villages and won the backing of the members of Monaghan Co Council at their May monthly meeting on Tuesday afternoon. A motion of urgent business calling on Eir to remove the masts was put forward by Sinn Féin’s Cathy Bennett and seconded by her party colleague Pat Treanor. “Both masts were erected close to people’s homes and without public consultation,” the motion stated. Moving the motion, Councillor Bennett said that the people of Scotstown had been astonished that Eir could come in and erect a mast right outside someone’s home. “There is a need for communication infrastructure but it is not fair to plonk a mast beside people’s houses,” the Sinn Féin representative stated, calling on the company to move the Scotstown mast and the one that had caused anger in the Scotshouse community to different locations. “This is something that…