Eirgrid in Rush - Mod Warning in Post #1

Rockee

Video footage (not my own) of this mornings protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35xuB1w0G-o

Corsendonk

A Guide to Rubber Necking on the Channel Road

• If walking your dog as an excuse to check out the scene please can you bring poop bags to remove any dog droppings as this part of town has enough crap on the pavements from existing dog walkers who don't give a damn. Pedestarian traffic seems to have increased this week.
  
• When driving a car past the scene of the dig can you pay attention to the colour of the traffic lights when driving. Otherwise you might drive through the Red Light like the lady did this evening when my light was green but she did see the digger judging by the way her head was turned.
  
• If you decide to make rubber necking a family or group trip can you ensure whoever walks on the road so they can still chat away to their friends on the path wears a high vise vest or at least bright colours.
  
• Motorists try to stay on your side of the white line and not drift over as you try to catch a glimpse of the security guards and garda car at the scene, it makes it easier for the driver driving towards you to remain alive.

brian ireland

Great to see people stand up for what they believe in. I will be there tomorrow giving my support to the caring people of Rush.

It's important people don't get carried away and get too angry with the Guards. They have a job to do!!
The fact is, Eirgrid have permission to dig the road. I am not sure if the guards have the right to push people away in a peaceful protest though. Having said that I wasn't there to form an opinion of what happen on the day.

I am not against the Cable if Eirgrid can prove its safe.
They haven't done this.

They can't be serious about digging up the main street in December. What little money the businesses could make in the build up to christmas will be reduced (don't own a business by the way).

They could have offered to dig outside the main street until Jan 2011.

Anyway I will be there until they convince me its safe and they don't force our small village into a no-mans land!

LeoB

Corsendonk wrote: »

Ohh I know that but these people want to be seen dealing with these issues so they can build up their local profile before they move on to running for FCC. We all seen the photo ops in the local Fingal rags were local community council members pop up complaining of littering or graffiti or speeding cars then suddenly their running for election. Already the community chairperson/No Campaign Chairperson has been mentioned in many quarters to be running for FG in the next FCC elections which has real possibilities. So if they wish to seek the limelight of political office why not get in some early training for the job I say.

Someone needs to stand up for local issues. I know who you mean but some of the council have no interest in public office they just want a more pleasing place to live. I have heard the same rumours as you but have been told this is being peddaled to make it more of a political issue.

Corsendonk wrote: »

Trendy Trev said he wasnt in favour of the existing route but his press release didn't have an alternative route to recommend.

Trendy Trevor:D. I would be suprised if he is in the field at next election I certainly hope he is not returned.

imokyrok wrote: »

Many busy Rush residents may not have had the opportunity to experience the jewel we are so lucky to have on our doorstep. The Special Protected Area (SPA) of Rogerstown Estuary is very special indeed both nationally and internationally.

http://www.npws.ie/en/media/Media,4430,en.pdf

Not so special a few months back and a few years ago when Fingal were doing work in other areas and used the estuary. €€€€€€€€€

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

......and every shop in Rush sells cigarettes yet these 'health' freaks don't seem to be protesting outside their doors.

You have a choice with cigarettes, like you have with alcohol. With EirGrid you have no choice its their way and their way only. They caused all this in my opinion and they wasted taxpayers money and time. A little bit of honesty from day 1 and this work I feel would be complete. No Protest, No campaign.

Once the road was cut I think its the end for the campaign, but I do think EirGrid could hold off with works on the Main St until January.

There have been quite a few sly digs here over the past while and now its time to move on. I sincerley hope Rush people can unite and can move forward and work together to make Rush a better place for all residents.

brian ireland

undermeoxter wrote: »

This hysteria is being whipped up by local 'leaders' with their own agendas. Scaring the life out of locals over nothing. Despicable.

Ok I am open to persuasion. What leaders and agendas?
Don't answer if you can't, but I would like to hear all in the issue and their opinions.
I have had my mind changed before.

undermeoxter

brian ireland wrote: »

Ok I am open to persuasion. What leaders and agendas?
Don't answer if you can't, but I would like to hear all in the issue and their opinions.
I have had my mind changed before.

Leaders = of Rush Community Council
Agenda = raise public profile with a view towards getting elected to County Council in the future.
Hysteria =

1. continually referencing scientific data relating to AC cables
2. ignoring all efforts to point out the irrelevance of this - it's a DC cable
3. quoting microTesla figures at people without a context
4. ignoring that there are dozens of sources for similar strength magnetic fields in all our daily lives e.g. headphones have a magnet of stronger fields in each ear; MRI machines have 3Tesla magnetic fields (3Tesla = 3million microTesla)

I don't know if that will convince you, but that's why I'm not convinced by the health-risk argument. This bogus health-risk argument is being pedalled by those wishing to maximise on the support for the re-routing campaign. I am genuinely concerned for locals - friends of mine and parents of my children's friends - who have been convinced that they or their children will get cancer from this cable.

Ichiban

Without wishing to take sides here - I would just like to point out that anyone deploying the 'They cant prove its safe' argument, would fail high school science.

You can't prove Scientifically that anythis is safe and no scientist would every make a statement to the effect that "eating apples is safe".

What they would say is that "After extensive testing there is no evidence that eating apples is unsafe so we can infer that its safe". Same approach for drug tests, pharma products, food safety etc, etc

So the protestors compromise their own campaign with idiotic statements like "They can't prove the cable is safe" - while ignoring all the evidence that there is no evidence of harm. Do these people take drugs, eat food, etc .................. Why is this different??

brian ireland

Ichiban wrote: »

Without wishing to take sides here - I would just like to point out that anyone deploying the 'They cant prove its safe' argument, would fail high school science.

You cant prove Scientifically that anythis is safe and no scientist would every make a statement to the effect that "eating apples is safe".

What they would say is that "After extensive testing there is no evidence that eating apples is unsafe so we can infer that its safe". Same approach for drug tests, pharma products, food safety etc, etc

So the protestors compromise their own campaign with idiotic statements like "They cant prove the cable is safe" - while ignoring that all the evidence that their is no evidence of harm. Do these people take drugs, eat food, etc .................. What is this different??

Sorry But I don't accept any post form people who join boards just to make a points on issues like this. I normally look at posters history and previous post to establish their cyber personality. You could be MR or MRS eirgrid for all I know

Ichiban

Just a frustrated local scientist - driven slightly demented by some of the 'arguments' coming through my letter box over the past weeks

We all have our limits - when finally join in the on-line chat

Seeing my neighbours at odds with the Garda was last straw

Nothing more sinister - promise

brian ireland

Ichiban wrote: »

Just a frustrated local scientist - driven slightly demented by some of the 'arguments' coming through my letter box over the past weeks

We all have our limits - when finally join in the on-line chat

Seeing my neighbours at odds with the Garda was last straw

Nothing more sinister - promise

I understand 100%. No problem

LeoB

undermeoxter wrote: »

Leaders = of Rush Community Council
Agenda = raise public profile with a view towards getting elected to County Council in the future.

Hysteria =

1. continually referencing scientific data relating to AC cables
2. ignoring all efforts to point out the irrelevance of this - it's a DC cable
3. quoting microTesla figures at people without a context
4. ignoring that there are dozens of sources for similar strength magnetic fields in all our daily lives e.g. headphones have a magnet of stronger fields in each ear; MRI machines have 3Tesla magnetic fields (3Tesla = 3million microTesla)

I don't know if that will convince you, but that's why I'm not convinced by the health-risk argument. This bogus health-risk argument is being pedalled by those wishing to maximise on the support for the re-routing campaign. I am genuinely concerned for locals - friends of mine and parents of my children's friends - who have been convinced that they or their children will get cancer from this cable.

NOW THIS IS HYSTERIA.......


I like others have heard this rumour about a member of the council and I am led to believe this is not the case. 2 people in the re route campaign have ran before in local elections.

I am not in a position to argue on the scentific side of this but why has so much information being kept quiet by Eirgrid? Why have they chose the more expensive route? There is a derigation ot come up the estuary where it is being done for development purposes. Like you I was not convinced by health risk but I simply believe EirGrid.

Off=topic briefly. I felt sorry for Rush Gardái being put in the middle of this. They do their best in our community are decent to deal with and it would not take a lot in the highly charged atmosphere of today to undo a lot of the good work they do in the community.

LeoB

Ichiban wrote: »

Just a frustrated local scientist - driven slightly demented by some of the 'arguments' coming through my letter box over the past weeks

We all have our limits - when finally join in the on-line chat

Seeing my neighbours at odds with the Garda was last straw

Nothing more sinister - promise

Welcome. 2 good posts you have put up so far. Hang around as there are some good debates going on in various threads.

Agree 100% with you on the situation with the Gardái. I was furious to look and see our local Sgt in the middle of this. I have had many meetings with him trying to put on bits and pieces for kids and found him very good. I told him this today. He didnt reply but another Guard did. We exchanged a few words.... I wont get into what was said but he was in doubt when I left how unhappy some locals were to see local Gardái put in this position, one of his collegues agreed with me:D, he was not best pleased

undermeoxter

LeoB wrote: »

NOW THIS IS HYSTERIA.......

It certainly wasn't meant to be! At most, all that it amounts to is a discenting opinion.

LeoB wrote: »

I like others have heard this rumour about a member of the council and I am led to believe this is not the case. 2 people in the re route campaign have ran before in local elections.

I hadn't actually heard that / didn't know of that rumour. In my experience, all of us have an agenda - essentially it is same thing as what motivates us, in my opinion. I've already stated mine: concern for my friends and neighbours being mis-led into taking such an extreme stance.
I was puzzling as to what could motivate people - by which I mean the leaders of the campaign - to be so strident in their rejection of anything said by any discenting voice. This is what led me to wonder about there being a political agenda.

LeoB wrote: »

I am not in a position to argue on the scentific side of this but why has so much information being kept quiet by Eirgrid?

I'm interested to know what information is being kept quiet by EirGrid.

LeoB wrote: »

Why have they chose the more expensive route?

My guess is that it's cheaper to come through the road-ways than to go through farmer's fields around the town.

LeoB wrote: »

There is a derigation ot come up the estuary where it is being done for development purposes. Like you I was not convinced by health risk but I simply believe EirGrid.

As I understand it, the estuary is absolutely jammers with pipelines already - particularly those that make land-fall.

LeoB wrote: »

Off=topic briefly. I felt sorry for Rush Gardái being put in the middle of this. They do their best in our community are decent to deal with and it would not take a lot in the highly charged atmosphere of today to undo a lot of the good work they do in the community.

I think perhaps the atmosphere could have been a lot more highly charged had the Gardaí *not* been known to the locals in the protest.

Like you, I have huge regard for this town that I've adopted as my home. I also hope that this will not become a completely devisive issue for the people of Rush - the town has had its share of devisive issues in the past.

Corsendonk

brian ireland wrote: »

Sorry But I don't accept any post form people who join boards just to make a points on issues like this. I normally look at posters history and previous post to establish their cyber personality. You could be MR or MRS eirgrid for all I know

Now thats not a nice way to greet a new poster to the thread, all viewpoints are welcome here, it is a democracy isnt it? Where all sides of the argument are heard in an open and fair way. Not who has the mob or who can shout the loudest?

brian ireland

Corsendonk wrote: »

Now thats not a nice way to greet a new poster to the thread, all viewpoints are welcome here, it is a democracy isnt it? Where all sides of the argument are heard in an open and fair way. Not who has the mob or who can shout the loudest?

I think you are just stirring it now.
Subsequent interaction between Ichiban and myself cleared any of my suspicions up. I thanked the poster and I don't believe I was rude.

Please don't respond to this. I will not be drawn into an argument with you unless its in relation to the topic.

Beasty

@brian ireland & Corsendonk

If you have a problem with a post report it or PM the mods. Please leave the modding to the mods - this really is the final warning

Thanks

Beasty

eddiem74

November 25th: Protesters gather in Dublin to protest Eirgrid interconnector

Source: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/protesters-gather-in-dublin-to-protest-eirgrid-interconnector-483227.html

Almost 150 protestors have gathered in Rush in north county Dublin to voice their opposition to Eirgrid's interconnector between Ireland and the UK.

The high voltage line electricity line, which has been granted permission by An Bord Pleanala, will come ashore at Rush and run underground along the road network to Co Meath.

Protestors, however, have said it poses severe health risks for people living in the area and could be re-routed away from houses and villages.

The company has sought injunctions against five members of Rush Community Council to stop them protesting, one of them is Clodagh Kelly.

She said the electricity cables are just too dangerous.

"There are links to childhood leukemia, miscarriage, Alzheimer's and all sorts of behavioral disorders are linked to the emissions from cables like that especially with that power and magnitude," she said.

"There is also a safety issue because of the mega-wattage power of these cables through a residential area.

"In some cases these (cables) are only two, three or four feet away from houses."

Meanwhile, EirGrid Project Director John Fitzgerald issued a statement today insisting that full planning permission was granted for the Interconnector by An Bord Pleanála in September 2009.

“Over the past three years we have endeavoured, in good faith, to deal with all of the questions and concerns put to us by residents, local elected representatives and by Rush Community Council," he said.

“At the request of Rush Community Council, Minister Ryan commissioned an independent report by an expert on the health impact of electromagnetic fields. This report, published by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, confirmed what EirGrid have said to date, there is no health risk in relation to the East West Interconnector.

“The people of Rush have nothing to fear from the interconnector. We would not be developing the interconnector, or using this technology, if there was a risk to a single person living anywhere along the route. This is proven technology which has been used in many other countries in similar residential areas.”

Martron

who was interviewed for these quotes.

one of the quotes say that the cable will be 2-4 feet away from the house.

thats inmposible. to dig the trench you need at least 2 foot from the edge of the cable to the edge of the trench. and then no contractor in their right mind would cut so close to a house.!!! basically what they are saying is that the trench will be in line with the foundation of their house?

the paper is at fault here too for print non researched rubbish. if they asked nyone in the service installation trade they would say that is nonsense.

and why do they keep saying that the protesters are saying there is a large health risk. is there any research by an independant scientific body saying there IS a major health risk from the cables?

Corsendonk

eddiem74 wrote: »

November 25th: Protesters gather in Dublin to protest Eirgrid interconnector

Source: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/protesters-gather-in-dublin-to-protest-eirgrid-interconnector-483227.html

Notice the health effects are getting worse....... miscarriage, alzheimers. Anyone have links to these scientific reports?

The Hill Billy

I'd like to see them myself. The 'childhood cancer' argument was based on a paper relating to a method of electricity distribution other than that which will be employed by Eirgrid in Rush. Therefore, in my mind it is not a valid argument in this instance.

There may be valid reasons for not routing through Rush, but based on the evidence presented thus far - health risk is not one of them.

eddiem74

I spoke with someone last night, who were proud to inform me they spent all day at the protest, had more video footage on their phone, etc...

Here is the jist of the conversaton.

I asked why are you protesting? They said "cos there running this cable up the street". I said whats wrong with that, they are always running cables up the street? They said "yeah, but you can get cancer, etc..." I said how do you know that? They said "there is reports/studies etc which prove it" I said so where are they, have you read them? They said "No, but so-n-so from the Rush CC has all that information"

Quite sad people are spending their day protesting when they have not even reivewed the data. Even if they said, I am sick of traffic disruption, pot holes, crumbling ramps, having the streets dug up, etc... I would have said fair enough.

Corsendonk

eddiem74 wrote: »

I spoke with someone last night, who were proud to inform me they spent all day at the protest, had more video footage on their phone, etc...

Here is the jist of the conversaton.

I asked why are you protesting? They said "cos there running this cable up the street". I said whats wrong with that, they are always running cables up the street? They said "yeah, but you can get cancer, etc..." I said how do you know that? They said "there is reports/studies etc which prove it" I said so where are they, have you read them? They said "No, but so-n-so from the Rush CC has all that information"

Quite sad people are spending their day protesting when they have not even reivewed the data. Even if they said, I am sick of traffic disruption, pot holes, crumbling ramps, having the streets dug up, etc... I would have said fair enough.

Novelty Factor, its probably the most excitement they have seen in a sleepy little town like Rush. I am assuming that those protesting haven't jobs because in the current climate not many can go missing from work to protest. So you can still claim the dole, meet your buddies at the protest, see a bit of action and load it up on Youtube at the end of the day, that beats seating at home playing PC games or watching daytime tv for the moment. Give it a couple days of freezing cold rain or snow and the central heated living room becomes a much more exciting prospect.

undermeoxter

Corsendonk wrote: »

Novelty Factor, its probably the most excitement they have seen in a sleepy little town like Rush. I am assuming that those protesting haven't jobs because in the current climate not many can go missing from work to protest. So you can still claim the dole, meet your buddies at the protest, see a bit of action and load it up on Youtube at the end of the day, that beats seating at home playing PC games or watching daytime tv for the moment. Give it a couple days of freezing cold rain or snow and the central heated living room becomes a much more exciting prospect.

However, there are also genuine people who are genuinely concerned who are prostesting.
Only...
...they've been completely sold a pup by those leading the campaign who consistently ignore any dissenting argument and continually froth-up the health-risk because they know that's going to keep people there.
I've had similar chats as eddiem74 did. It's hard to tell these friends to their face: "you're actually the ones being lied to here; you're freezing your tits/balls off over nonscence."

As long as parents believe their children's health are at risk they will stick it out rain, hail or snow. The organisers know that. They are making fools of the local people.

Corsendonk

<admin snip> For legal reasons, please do not post people's names

The above names are a list of the people involved in running the No to Eirgrid Campaign/Rush Community Council that was kindly provided by a poster here previously. Does anyone know if their all still involved? The AGM for RCC was last Wednesday night.

Ichiban

Brian and myself had an online hug and I im not so thin skinned to object to a little questioning.

The principles here are well known for almost a hundred years;

High frequency electromagnetic fields transmit energy (Maxwells equations). This energy can be absorbed by biological cells and potentially distrupt their function - hence the known health effects and guidelines for 'exposure' based on field magnitude and frequency for AC.

DC electric and magnetic fields (what we are talking about here despite the best spin of the community council - a very small AC ripple on a DC field does not turn it into an AC field - as strictly speaking there is no such thing as absolutely DC- but now im being an anorak) do not 'transmit' energy and hence we are quite happy to put your granny in an MRI machine with 3 Tesla magnetic field and leave her there for 30 minutes a few times a year as part of a cancer monitoring and diagnosis strategy. (Do you think the hospital would be putting cancer patents in a whacking great magnet if DC magnetic fields cause cancer)

I am offering a prize for the correct answer to how long your granny would have to lie down above the dreaded killer cable in order to get the same exposure as from an MRI scan!!!! (Hint - no answers of less than a year full time 24/7, will win this prize)

These guys with their health scare are driving me mad.

I would respect them if they were objecting to the disruption of running up the town - but not this 'Be Afraid of the Fields' campaign

The Rooster

imokyrok wrote: »

I also would far prefer to see temporary traffic disruption than long term damage to the wildlife in Rogerstown Harbour. I was quite stunned that Trevor Sargant seemed to support that option.

1. There would be absolutely no long term damage to the Rogerstown area - there are lots of underground works already in place on the proposed alternate route, with no ill effects.
2. I believe Trevor did a U-turn and now supports eirgrid.

undermeoxter wrote: »

I'm just wondering what this new technology is and where I can read up about it e.g. its use in Vancouver? A mum I met this afternoon mentioned New Technology as the basis of her worry re health-risk i.e. that it hasn't been tested and who knows what might turn up in 20 years time

I think the new technology is HVDC cables. Its safer than whatever went before.

undermeoxter wrote: »

Leaders = of Rush Community Council
Agenda = raise public profile with a view towards getting elected to County Council in the future.

Indeed we should all be aware of people's agenda. There is someone who posts here who is in favour of eirgird, and who has a family member who will lose out financially if eirgrid is re-routed. You'd expect everyone to put themselves first usually.

There is a gap in the market re a Rush County Councillor. I would expect anyone who is remotely interested in filling that gap to be well to the forefront of the current goings on. That's hardly a hidden agenda. Anyone Rush person going for CC next time who has had zero involvement will be asked where they hell where they! (whether advocating or protesting).

Hill Billy wrote: »

There may be valid reasons for not routing through Rush, but based on the evidence presented thus far - health risk is not one of them.

That's just not true Hill Billy. Of course there are health risks - what's in doubt is whether they are acceptable or not.

People with pacemakers or other implanted electronic devices are advised by WHO to avoid locations where the magnetic field exceeds 500 microteslas. The Rush magnetic field is expected to have 43 microteslas, so that sounds reasonable safe - but the question is what about the spikes? Does that increase the field by 2-fold, 10-fold, 100-fold?? That wasn't addressed in the report. That's what worries me.

Other than that I think the underground cabling will be safe in the short term. But what we don't know if the effect of years and years of exposure.

This (from the WHO) sums it up perfectly:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs299/en/index.html

It is not possible to determine whether there are any long-term health consequences even from exposure in the millitesla range because, to date, there are no well-conducted epidemiological or long-term animal studies. Thus the carcinogenicity of static magnetic fields to humans is not at present classifiable (IARC, 2002).

So we don't really know the long term effects. Therefore the answer should be - Lets go to Rogerstown and elimiate whatever minimal health risk there is to the people of Rush.

Ichiban

People with pacemakers or other implanted electronic devices are advised by WHO to avoid locations where the magnetic field exceeds 500 microteslas. The Rush magnetic field is expected to have 43 microteslas, so that sounds reasonable safe - but the question is what about the spikes? Does that increase the field by 2-fold, 10-fold, 100-fold?? That wasn't addressed in the report. That's what worries me.

This is typical of the absolute baloney being talked. The strength of the magnetic field has a linear relationship with the electrical current that is generating it, which is a function of the source of generation and the transmission architecture (I dont work for Eirgrid but I am a teckie - hence my frequent bad spelling).

While it is possible for a line current/voltage to go lower (brown out) or have a ripple on it that temporarily takes it higher by a few %, how do you propose that a power station acidentially put out x2, x10 or x100 its rated power to cause this magic 10 - 100 fold spike? If this is possible the ESB would certainly like to know how they can increase power output by a factor of 10 even on a temporary basis. I think you should patent any ideas in this direction immediately and worry about more likely scenarios like the possibility of aliens landing in your kitchen.:rolleyes:

FYI the background field in Canada is circa 55-60 micro Tesla compared to circa 48 micro Tesla in Ireland (+20% or so) - I dont believe any warnings have been issued about risking your kids lives by a holiday in Canada

On your point of eliminating all risk - please read a previous post on this old chestnut.

Ichiban

It is not possible to determine whether there are any long-term health consequences even from exposure in the millitesla range because, to date, there are no well-conducted epidemiological or long-term animal studies. Thus the carcinogenicity of static magnetic fields to humans is not at present classifiable (IARC, 2002).

This statement refers to milliTesla range. We are all getting worked up about 40 MICROTesla. Factor of 100 or 1000 times smaller and of comparable strength to the earths field which varies from circa 40 to 65 micro Tesla.

I know micro, milli, mega all start with an M, but really the unit after the number is important (sound of hair tearing)

undermeoxter

The Rooster wrote: »

I think the new technology is HVDC cables. Its safer than whatever went before.

Srsly?!?!? DC is not new Technology - it's been around since the discovery of electricity, as far as I know. It's at least been around since a bunch of now ancient rockers decided to form a band and call themselves after it: AC/DC. That practically puts it back with the dinosaurs!:D

Edited to add: HVDC just stands for "High Voltage Direct Current". Nothing more sinister (or high tech) than that.

undermeoxter

Ichiban wrote: »

It is not possible to determine whether there are any long-term health consequences even from exposure in the millitesla range because, to date, there are no well-conducted epidemiological or long-term animal studies. Thus the carcinogenicity of static magnetic fields to humans is not at present classifiable (IARC, 2002).

This statement refers to milliTesla range. We are all getting worked up about 40 MICROTesla. Factor of 100 or 1000 times smaller and of comparable strength to the earths field which varies from circa 40 to 65 micro Tesla.

I know micro, milli, mega all start with an M, but really the unit after the number is important (sound of hair tearing)

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm really more used to dealing with 1000-range difference between meters and milli-meters so smaller than I find confusing)

deci (d) = 0.1 or 1 Tenth of original unit
centi (c) = 0.01 or 1 Hundredth
milli (m) = 0.001 or 1 Thousandth
micro (u) = 0.000 001 or 1 Millionth (I believe this "u" is actually the Greek letter M called Mu?)
nano (n) = 0.000 000 001 or 1 Billionth of original unit

Edited to add: Clare Daly - in her blog post of support for the protest (http://www.claredaly.ie/why-i-support-rush-residents-taking-on-eirgrid/) - refers to "Micronesia" which, when I double-checked on Wikipedia, appears to be a "subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines and Indonesia lie to the west."
Definately not going *there* on my hols - since the risk of cancer is doubled at 0.4 Microsnesia if Cllr Daly is to be believed.

coun