Golf courses waiting for a Green light

IT MAY seem ironic, but developers of golf links in sensitive coastal areas are hoping Environment Minister John Gormley will listen more favourably to their case than Fianna Fáil ministers have in recent years.

Most people expect the Greens to be more protective of fragile dune systems. However, two former Fianna Fáil environment ministers, Martin Cullen and Dick Roche, refused to give the go-ahead for a proposed golf links at Inch on the Dingle Peninsula.

Both felt golf would be “incompatible” with the natural environment of the area and would damage habitat.