The long-term future of the €150 million Doonbeg golf resort was secured yesterday when Clare County Council granted planning permission for works to protect the golf course from the effects of global warming.
The golf club is expected to now press ahead with erecting an eight-metre high stone barrier on Doughmore beach to protect the Greg Norman-designed golf course from coastal erosion.
The golf club's initial plan envisaged placing 80,000 tonnes of rock on the beach. However this was reduced after the local authority expressed concerns over the scale of the proposal.
In granting permission for the works yesterday, the council's planning report acknowledged that the works "are necessary to protect the investment at the golf club as the beach is not dynamically stable and will continue to erode".
The golf club had warned the council that if the scheme did not get the go-ahead, the viability of the entire project would be under threat, jeopardising the socio-economic benefits of the golf resort to the area.
A study carried out by the golf club found that the northern half of the dune system receded by between 40 to 45 metres during the first half of the 20th century, while the southern half receded by between 30 to 35 metres.
During the 18-month period in which the application was evaluated, the council was pinpointed as the agency that inadvertently threatened the viability of the golf project.
This followed the golf club unearthing evidence that council employees in the 1940s removed substantial quantities of rock from the beach to build local roads, thereby robbing the dunes of protection from coastal erosion.
The local authority ruled yesterday that the plan would not injure the amenities of the area having regard to the rural nature of the site, the local environment, the intended use of the proposed lands and the policies of the Clare County Development Plan.
The local authority granted planning for the scheme in the face of opposition from An Taisce, the Government's National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), locals and surfers using the beach.
Both Doonbeg golf club and An Taisce were yesterday waiting to examine the 20 conditions attached to the permission before commenting on the decision.
