We don’t need this type of development

WITH reference to your article (Irish Examiner, February 4) about yet another golf course proposed for the Kinsale hinterland, one would have thought that the sport was already well catered for in the area.

There was no mention of the hundreds of people who oppose the development as a whole. Recently, the project’s backers said they would need to build and sell 250 houses on the 650-acre site to finance the project, which would include a golf course, a 200-bedroom hotel and an equestrian centre.

It is of major concern to read that the developers are “positively engaged with Cork County Council in terms of all aspects of the development”. This statement was made at the launch (at Farrangalway golf club!) three days before the final date on which submissions or observations could be lodged by anyone concerned.

It is the second occasion that a Government minister has attended a launch pertaining to these plans. Is there something else at the back of all of this, or am I and many others just becoming a little paranoid?

Does anyone in this Government ever consider local residents before putting their considerable weight behind private investors? It is all very well to say that the golfer Ernie Els will have a “visible presence” at Kinsale, but the people in the area have a permanent presence and the last thing they want to see is an urban-type village in a rural setting and a monstrosity of a hotel.

George Harding

Ballymaccus

Kinsale

Co Cork