A PUBLIC forum is to be established to hear submissions on the proposed Loran-C navigation mast at Loop Head, Co Clare, the Minister for the Marine announced last night.

Mr Barrett said the forum would consist of three individuals and include persons with knowledge and expertise in maritime matters generally. It would be set up shortly to allow individuals and groups to articulate publicly concerns they might have about the appropriateness of the State's involvement in the project generally, the impact or effect of the mast on public health and the environment, and the selection of an appropriate site.

Mr Barrett said that following the outcome of the current Supreme Court case and the public forum, the Commissioners of Irish Lights would be directed not to proceed with the erection of a mast at any location without undertaking a renewed and appropriate planning application procedure.

"I intend that the public forum I am setting up will consult extensively on the general merits and demerits of the project as articulated in the debate to date, on the impacts and effects of a Loran-C mast, whether in Clare or elsewhere, and on the site selection, procedure used by the commissioners," Mr Barrett said.

"The forum will draw on expert advice and will adopt an informed view on the legitimacy or otherwise of concerns and opinions on all these and any other issues put to it. The proceedings of the forum will be public, open and comprehensive and its report will be published following the completion of its work. I would envisage the duration of its work will be three to four months from the date of commencement of work."

The Minister said that Ireland's participation in Loran-C was provided for in an international agreement between this State - Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and France, and was duly approved by the House in October, 1992.

The terms of the agreement included an undertaking by Ireland that a mast would be erected in the south-west as an essential link in a system of nine masts stretching from the north of Norway to the south of France. A study had led to the selection of the site currently envisaged at Loop Head said Mr Barrett.

He added that the current debate was dissociated in time from the original decision-making and suffered from having no public channel or forum through which issues, of real and legitimate concern to many people, could be aired and informed. He regarded this state of affairs as unsatisfactory, potentially damaging and inconsistent with the need to ensure the maximum practicable level of public information and consultation.

Mr Barrett was speaking during the debate on the Merchant Shipping (Commissioners of Irish Lights) Bill, which passed all stages in the House last night. He said the measure was necessary because of last July's Supreme Court judgment upholding a High Court decision that the powers given to the commissioners under the 1894 Merchant Shipping Act could not be interpreted to include the provision of radio-based aids to marine navigation which were unknown when the act was introduced.

The Progressive Democrats will be opposing the proposed Loran-C navigation mast being erected at Loop Head. Mr Bobby Molloy, the party's spokesman on communications, said there were real fears among people in Co Clare about the likely health effects of the mast. At a proposed height of more than 600 feet, the mast would certainly constitute "a huge blot on the very attractive landscape of Loop Head and surrounding areas".

Mr Molloy said the PDs did not object to the basic purpose of the Bill - to update legislation governing marine navigation. However, they wanted the Bill to be delayed until the outstanding court case be resolved so as to facilitate a full and open debate on all aspects of the matter.

The Fianna Fail spokesman on the marine, Mr Michael Smith, said the legislation was draconian and a panic measure and lost sight of the many advances that had taken place in marine navigation.

It gave the lie to the solemn commitment given by Fine Gael at the last election not to proceed with the Loran-C.