Mayfield Residents to Picket Cork O2 Phone Shop

cork | environment | event notice Friday April 21, 2006 13:26 by Pat - Mayfield Against Microwave Madness mayfieldagainstmicrowaves at hotmail dot com (021) 4503481

Mobile Phone multinational treats community with contempt

Residents of the Cork northside suburb of Mayfield will tomorrow place a picket on the main O2 mobile telephone shop at No.10 Patrick Street at 1.30pm (opposite Eason's) in protest against the placement of a series of mobile phone masts in a residential area and just 200 metres from a major community school..
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The Mayfield Against Microwave Madness campaign group was established last year as part of a local campaign against the erection of O2 microwave mobile phone antennas which have already had to be moved on a number of occasions..

In 2004 residents noticed that a mobile phone mast had been erected on the roof of the well known Cotton Ball public house on Old Youghal Road in the heart of Mayfield Village. A campaign was launched and it was discovered that the company which had erected the antenna had breached regulations. That company, O2 were, after an 18 month long campaign, forced to remove the antennas but residents were shocked to find that a new microwave mast was erected a mere ten metres away in the car park at the rere of the Cotton Ball..
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Residents once again went into action and less than a fortnight later (February 2006) the antennas were once again removed by O2. Celebrations were short-lived however when it was discovered that another antenna owned by O2 had appeared on the roof of another local business premises, this time the Centra Store on Old Youghal Road, just 247 metres away (we measured it!) and practically on top of houses in Avonmore Park, and a mere 200 metres from Mayfield Community School, one of the largest schools of its type in Cork. .
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THe Mayfield Against Microwave Madness group recently launched a boycott campaign against Murray's Centra and have placed pickets on the shop on a number of Saturdays. The boycott is a great success and word is that Mr. Murray is a very worried man. .
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The group is now targetting O2's commerical outlets, particularly those directly operated by the company itself (as opposed to franchises). Therefore a picket will be held on the O2 shop at 10 Patrick Street tomorrow (Saturday, 22nd April) at 1.30pm.
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Further information contact Mary Anders at (021) 4500560 or Ted Tynan at (021) 4503481 (home, evenings).