Beara projects held up over fears for freshwater mussels

THE presence of freshwater mussels in a lake which supplies water to Beara is hampering the development of housing in the area, a meeting heard last week.

John Murphy and Jim O’Sullivan of Beara Tourism, who chaired the meeting, outlined how most of the water supply on the peninsula comes from Glenbeg Lake outside Ardgroom.

While Glenbeg is over 30m deep, and meets the needs of the local community, Irish Water claims that in the event of a drought, there may be a reduction in water flowing over the freshwater mussels in the stream below the lake.

As a result of that claim, Cork County Council has said it will not grant planning permission for housing developments in the area.

The meeting, which was organised by Beara Tourism, Castletownbere Development Association and Eyeries Tidy Towns Committee, heard that ‘millions of euro’ of housing and commercial projects in Beara are currently stalled due to Irish Water’s failure to address the issue. Local developer Colman O’Sullivan spoke of his frustration at the Council’s delay in granting planning permissions.

Among the major projects currently stalled, the meeting heard, are a small boat harbour, a sea coral processing unit, and an extension to the BIM fisheries college in Castletownbere.

There are also numerous other public and private building projects throughout Beara that would all provide employment in the area, which are currently held up.

A solution was proposed by engineer John J O’Sullivan, who suggested the installation of an underwater pipe at Glenbeg could ensure that lake water would be pumped over the freshwater mussels in the event of a drought.

The meeting agreed that this would resolve the issue in a simple, cost-effective and environmentally sensitive manner, ensuring the well-being of the freshwater mussels and allowing the Council to resume granting planning permissions.

Cllr Danny Collins stated that, when a similar issue arose at Inniscarra Dam, Irish Water installed pumps and the matter was resolved in two weeks.

Dónal Kelly, chairman of Castletownbere Development Association, expressed his hope that Irish Water would implement such a solution as soon as possible.

Also at the meeting were local TD Ind Michael Collins, Senator Tim Lombard (FG) along with Cllrs Patrick Gerard Murphy and Caroline Cronin, and local election candidates Isobel Towse (SD) and Danny Crowley (FF).