CORK County Council has confirmed that it has made a submission to the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board (ALAB) over the granting of an aquaculture licence for a controversial mussel farm in Kinsale Harbour.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine granted the licence to Waterford-based Woodstown Shellfish Ltd for the 23-hectare mussel farm, seven years after the application was first made by the company.
A council spokesperson told The Southern Star that following consideration the county engineer’s office took the opportunity presented during the current process to make a submission in the form of resubmitting Cork County Council’s original observation on the aquaculture licence.
‘It is understood the ALAB will consider the matter de novo (afresh).’
The closing date for members of the public to make submissions to the ALAB was Friday June 30th and an online petition calling for the licence to be revoked garnered over 5,500 signatures.
Numerous locals and organisations within the town are understood to have lodged appeals against the decision to grant the aquaculture licence close to the Dock Beach.
Concerned locals also held a peaceful protest in Kinsale Harbour last month to highlight their opposition to the plan, with hundreds turning up both on land and sea for the protest.
The Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine granted an aquaculture licence for the mussel farm in late May of this year.
Waterford-based Woodstown Bay Shellfish Ltd had applied for the licence in 2018 in an area near the Dock beach and James Fort.
