Fears multiple studies on protected species will hinder North Cork developments

The EU directive protecting the freshwater pearl mussel has left planning officials with no choice but to reject a number of applications for developments along the River Blackwater.

The whole of the River Blackwater has been designated a protection area for the freshwater pearl mussel, even though a number of local public representatives claim the species is only present in some small sections.

Cork County Council is writing to a number of government departments and Irish Water amid concern that they may overlap various studies into the exact population of a protected species in a river in North Cork.

Councillors are concerned that too many studies on the freshwater pearl mussel in the River Blackwater could drag on and thus hinder further development along some stretches of it.

The whole of the river has been designated a protection area for the mussel, even though a number of local public representatives claim the species is only present in some small sections, primarily upstream from Mallow and on a tributary, the River Allow.

At a meeting of the council's Northern Division, Fine Gael councillor John Paul O'Shea asked for some clarity on the proposed studies and who was going to carry them out.

He was told by senior officials that as far as they know the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS), the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Department of Arts, Heritage, Sport & Tourism and the Department of Rural & Community Development were all involved.

Mr O'Shea said he also knew from correspondence with Irish Water that the utility was undertaking studies of the mussel population in some areas where it was intending to upgrade sewerage treatment plants.

The freshwater pearl mussel is critically endangered and needs high water purity to breed.

The EU directive protecting it, allied to a number of sewerage treatment plants being at or over capacity, has left county council planning officials with no choice but to reject a number of applications for developments along the river.

“We need to seek clarity on who is doing what. There are severe restrictions in North Cork (on granting planning permissions) because of this,” Mr O'Shea said.

“We need to ascertain who is doing what and where and what are the timelines for same,” he added.

Council deputy chief executive James Fogarty, who is in charge of the North Cork region, agreed with him.

He said he would write to the government departments and Irish Water and seek a formal response on the matter.

Mr Fogarty said:

We're not into ecological vandalism here. 

"People need to live and we need to have development. We need a balance.”

Despite being told by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that upgrades of three north Cork sewage treatment plants are vital, Irish Water has said it won't be funding the construction of any of them until post-2024.

The treatment plant upgrades are needed at Kanturk, Ballydesmond and Lombardstown and until that happens it is unlikely that any significant development can happen there in the meantime because of fears that sewage discharges into the river will impact on the protected mussel.