Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the different questions the Deputy has put to me, due to the presence of the pearl mussel in some stretches of the river and its protected status, the scheme could not progress, which was the Deputy's point, until a proposal was submitted to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. This was submitted in June of last year. The NPWS responded by stating that it had no comment or objection to the proposal. Following this, a desktop survey has been undertaken on the relocation of the mussels to inform the next steps. In terms of the timing of what will happen, as I have said to the Deputy and as he has acknowledged, the contract is expected to be in place this month. The site investigation will provide information on the channel to decide on the preferred options to progress the scheme. It is expected that this will take three months. I assume the second public information day will then take place after that.

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