By Cronan Scanlon

A GLENFIN woman has made an impassioned plea for a mobile phone mast to be moved further from her home as she claims it is having a detrimental effect on her health and quality of life.

Ms Margaret McGinley, a retired nurse from An Coimín in the Glenfin Gaeltacht, is appealing a decision by Donegal County Council to granted retention permission to Vodafone Ireland for a 20 metre mobile phone mast near her house.

Ms McGinley says she suffers from a rare medical condition called electro-magnetic sensitivity (EMS) which has been exacerbated since the mast was erected four years ago.

EMS is best described is a chronic illness triggered by exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

She claims the mast exacerbates her condition, which was diagnosed in 1991, causing her to feel burning sensation in her chest while at home as well as muscle spasms in her neck, face and head.

The mast is part of an existing Vodafone development which has already been granted planning permission.

"I have been diagnosed with EMS in the early 1990s, however, it has become a lot worse since that mast went up," Ms McGinley explains.

"When I wake up in the morning I feel exhausted. I don't want to get rid of it because there will be no mobile reception for me or my neighbours. I just want it moved further away from my home and hopefully that will help me. I feel I am not making an unreasonable request".

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