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.

The American promoters of a €150 million complex at Doonbeg in west Clare also faced environmental difficulties, but at least they succeeded in building a new links.

Some of the difficulties in Doonbeg arose from disputes about rights of way and coastal protection.

Golf course designer Dr Arthur Spring has been trying unsuccessfully to get the green light for a links at Inch for 13 years. But, as Inch is a candidate Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a golf links there would need ministerial approval.

An Bord Pleanála approved the project in 1997 but it has since been held up due to conservation and environmental issues. Having failed to convince Mr Cullen and Mr Roche, Dr Spring, a brother of former Tánaiste Dick Spring, now hopes present minister Mr Gormley will look closely at the positive side of his ambitious project.

Bodies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) regard the Inch dunes as among the best in the country and so far have strongly opposed a golf links.

The NPWS quotes scientific advice to back its case for opposing a links and says activities such as earth-moving and grass-cutting would have an adverse impact on a priority habitat, under the 1997 European Communities (Natural Habitats) Regulations.

However, Dr Spring believes a golf links would only help conserve the Inch environment.

He recently met senior Department of the Environment officials and is inviting Mr Gormley to come and view at first hand the 1,250 acres at Inch.

“The golf holes would have short grasses on 76 acres. These short grasses would be indigenous to the site,” he said.

“NPWS should work with us rather than against us. There could be a huge nature reserve on the remainder of the site. This would attract scientists from home and abroad.”

There are signs of deterioration at Inch. Quad and scrambling bikers are regular visitors and cause more damage than a golf links. The tracks are there for all to see. Dr Spring said: “The Irish regulations put an onus on the minister to take all steps necessary to maintain all SACs at a favourable conservation status. Inch is degrading rapidly.

“A golf course, with its sensitive management regime and a permanent presence on the site, seems the way forward.”

Fairways would be natural and greens and tees shaped with very little disturbance to the site, which was used as a golf course from about 1920 to 1945.

A key factor is the case for the links is that it would help create employment — at least 50 full-time jobs, according to Dr Spring — in an area where there are few jobs, with a big spin-off for tourism locally.

Inch, which boasts one of the finest beaches in the south-west, has largely missed out on tourism development.

“Up to 20,000 golfers would be coming into the place each year,” Dr Spring said.

“I believe there’s room for both golf and protection of the environment.”

He referred to the case of Castlegregory, on the other side of the Dingle peninsula, where he designed a course in 1989.

“The natterjack toad has thrived and multiplied by thousands on the course. The experts who tried to stop the course predicted that the toad would be killed off.

“The profuse flora in the rough on the course attracts insects and these in turn provide food for the mature toads,” he said.

Mr Gormley, meanwhile, has yet to made a decision on the Inch proposal and will surprise many if he takes a different view from his department predecessors.