Late Late blacked out in Mullagh

The people with analogue TV aerials in the Mullagh are being blanked due to the erection of a towering state-of-the-art communications system at the local garda station and they are demanding to be put back in the picture, according to outraged local Cllr. Shane P O'Reilly. The Fianna Fáil representative said that anyone with an existing analogue aerial in the Mullagh town area had their television reception wiped out. Those with a Sky satalite dish still have a reception. The same issue has affected residences in close proximity to garda stations in towns such as Cootehill and Clones. He emphasised that he was not against the gardaí and the emergency services getting access to modern communications equipment but it should not be at the expense of the ordinary citizens in Mullagh. He also maintains that there are additional antennae on the new mast structure and he feels that planning approval should be necessary for such a project. It is particularly difficult for senior citizens to get the matter rectified, because they have to pay other people to do it, he highlighted. Cllr. O'Reilly said that when he checked into the matter over the past three weeks and the contractors that erected the aerial were contacted. "They referred me to the communications company that instructed them, and in turn that company referred me to Comreg." He claimed that Comreg essentially said that it was "people's own look out". People who had been watching Tubs on the Late Late Show with a perfect reception on the analogue system a month ago, now have to fork out their hard-earned money to purchase a filter unit for their aerials, to cut out the interference, which was not of their own making in the first place. Cllr. O'Reilly added that the mast at the Garda Station is the largest such infrastructure he has encountered in the region and is in close proximity to two private residences. He has brought the matter to the attention of the MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher and the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith who has asked for clarity on this issue from both the Department of Justice and the Department of Communications. A motion on the matter will also be tabled in the near future in the Seanad by Senator Diarmuid Wilson.