MORE THAN 3,000 PEOPLE have signed a petition objecting to the granting of planning permission for a mussel farm in Kinsale, Co Cork, which will be the size of “twelve GAA pitches”.

A 23-hectare bottom-culture mussel farm has been approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, sparking opposition among residents, environmental advocates, and local groups.

The proposed site is located directly adjacent to Dock Beach, a popular swimming location.

The Department of Marine granted the licence in May, with objectors having a month to appeal the decision.

Locals in Kinsale will gather both on land and sea at 6.30pm today to register their opposition to the granting of a licence to a shellfish company to pursue the operation.

The protest flotilla will include fishing vessels, sailing boats, paddle boards, kayaks, and swimmers.

Kinsale resident Donal Hayes says the planning decision flies in the face of the entire community.

“There’s an incredible sense of community and concern,” Hayes said.

“And there’s a kind of a spirit of volunteerism and local initiatives and there’s this kind of, there’s a feeling of we’re all in this together, you know.

“There’s loads of things like the Gourmet Festival, the Arts Week, the Maritime Festival. I mean, you could keep going on. This flies in the face of everything.”

He added that the people of Kinsale are “uniting to defend their coastal environment” and way of life.”

Meanwhile, Cork county councillors are to lodge a formal objection to the decision to grant planning permission to the controversial project.

Cllr Gillian Coughlan of Fianna Fáil told a meeting of Cork County Council earlier this week: “to say that locals in Kinsale were disappointed and dismayed at the granting of the licence is an understatement.”

Residents say they are outraged that the project has been allowed to proceed without what they perceive as public consultation or proper scrutiny of the ecological impact.

The Kinsale Swimmers, a year-round sea swimming group, voiced particular concern that dredging activity would stir up silt for up to six weeks, severely degrading water quality and making the beach unusable for swimming.

They also raised alarm about the accumulation of mussel faeces, which they say would pose a long-term threat to water quality in the bay.

Earlier this week in the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended the decision to grant the licence, saying it followed consultation with scientific advisors and relevant bodies.

He said a public consultation process had taken place – first in 2019, and again in 2021 – during which 609 submissions were received.

According to Martin, aquaculture licences are only approved after full consideration of all environmental, legal, and public interest factors.

He also noted that there is an appeals process in place, allowing objections to be lodged within one month of the licence being granted.

Cork Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins also raised the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday.

He said the process in which the aquaculture licence was granted is “flawed”.

The company behind the project, Waterford-based Woodstown Bay Shellfish Ltd, has been contacted for comment.