Councillors to object to minister's order for mussel farm the size of 12 GAA pitches in Kinsale Harbour

A meeting heard it will cover 23.16 hectares of the seabed and abuts the shipping lane, meaning they can damage boat engines as mussels can get into them

More than 300 people attended a public meeting in Kinsale on Sunday to raise concerns about the proposed mussel farm in Kinsale Harbour. 

Cork county councillors are to lodge a formal objection to a decision by the minister for agriculture Martin Haydon to grant planning permission for a controversial mussel farm the size of 12 GAA pitches in Kinsale Harbour.

Standing orders were suspended at a meeting in County Hall when the issue was raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Gillian Coughlan. She said the council, as both the planning authority and the Kinsale port authority, had previouslyobjected to the mussel farm, as had around 1,000 people.