Developers awaiting removal of EU river mussel directive

Developers will breathe a sigh of relief when EU-designation status to protect the freshwater pearl mussel in Co Cork is lifted.

All major development along the famed Blackwater River had been halted by an EU directive in 2014.

The mussel cannot breed in polluted waters and the EU had stepped in to suggest that the local authority, and Irish Water, would have to drastically improve sewerage treatment in the region, if further development was to be allowed to go ahead.