The communities of Cruit, Kincasslagh and Keadue in west-Donegal have been working tirelessly over the weekend to pull together a detailed submission to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine – Mr Michael Creed – in objection to the proposed plans for Oyster Farms in both the Cruit Island and Keadue Bay areas.
It emerged during the past week that a decision was pending in the coming weeks regarding the granting of foreshore licences for Oyster Farms in what is a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
In response a local task-force – the Save our Strands (SOS) Group – was established on the back of a hugely successful public meeting on Thursday night to identify how best the community could respond to the applications in question.
At a supporter’s rally today, the community were joined at Cruit Island bridge by TD Thomas Pringle and local Councillors Michael Colm MacGiolla Easpaig and Marie Therese Gallagher, all of whom voiced their support to the local community in the efforts to maintain one of County Donegal’s most beautiful stretches of coastline as nature intended.
The Save our Strands Group wish to express their gratitude to all who have helped out in the campaign thus far and wish to remind people that there will be a public meeting in St.Mary’s Hall, Kincasslagh on Sunday evening, 2nd October at 6pm to update the broader community on the next steps in the process – including details on how to prepare and submit submissions to the Minister.
In addition, the Group have also asked that while they appreciate the good-will that exists from people far and near, that any desire to set-up petitions or gather further support should be channeled through the local committee so that a unified front can be made when making representations to the Minister.