Residents in Crumlin are celebrating a rare and unprecedented victory against two telecommunications companies who were refused planning retention permission recently by An Bord Pleanála for mobile phone masts and antennae in a sports ground owned by drinks giant Diageo.

Our natural world is under assault from human activity. The trouble is, to recognise damage to nature reveals also the risk to ourselves. ‘Progress’ is in the hands not of individual people, nor their elected representatives and politicians. It is in the hands of the free market, the large corporates who set the direction of our world through creating profit streams however they can.

The current guidelines to protect people from the adverse effects of mobile phone radiation are based on outdated science and there is an urgent need to develop safer technologies, an electromagnetic radiation expert has claimed.

Europe's top environmental watchdog is calling for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and lead in petrol.