The £12.5 million hotel, holiday chalet and golf links scheme proposed for the sand dunes at Doonbeg, Co Clare, threatens to pre-empt all further development locally, according to Friends of the Irish Environment.
FIE, which was set up to monitor the implementation in Ireland of EU environmental legislation, objects to the Shannon Development-backed scheme mainly because it would dramatically alter the landscape and habitat of a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The group bases its claim on figures quoted in the developer's environmental impact statement which show the additional burden on Doonbeg's sewerage - installed in 1991 with EU assistance - would use all its available capacity.
"Clare County Council will be obliged to refuse planning permissions in the Doonbeg area, even those from sons and daughters who wish to build near where their parents live. Meanwhile, vast amounts of raw sewage will be pumped into the sea at McGrath's Point."
With Shannon Development's full support, a company controlled by Landmark National, of Columbus, Ohio, has sought planning permission to develop an 18-hole golf course, a 90-bedroom four-star hotel, holiday chalets and other facilities on the 377-acre site.
FIE said Shannon Development should be assisting rural development, "not depriving residents of their right to build". It supports efforts by coalitions of locally owned businesses to gain more control of the tourism sector, economically and environmentally.
The group's written objection to Clare County Council includes a request for further information on public access to the beach at White Strand, should the scheme go ahead, and the current legal rights of other uses - such as surfing competitions.
"The fundamental objection to this development is its location in a previously protected scientifically valuable sand dune system where the applicant admits mitigation is unlikely to significantly lessen the predicted impacts," FIE has told the county council.
It claims the scientific interest of the dune system would be "irreparably damaged" by the scheme and that it would also be "incompatible" with the current zoning of the area, which identifies White Strand as an outstanding landscape.
FIE is also seeking access to the scientific evidence which was used by the State Wildlife Service to justify changing the boundaries of the SAC at Doonbeg.
It has asked Clare County Council why no mention had been made of the fact that the area in question is still a proposed Natural Heritage Area - a lower-grade designation for nationally important habitats, which has no statutory standing at present.
It also wants the council's planners to seek further information from the developers on the use of fertilisers and fungicides as well as on their plans to respond to "coastal erosion and flooding through fairways built on mobile dunes at the edge of the beach".
Last November, the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, described the proposed golf-led leisure development at Doonbeg as "a powerhouse for west coast tourism" because golf had been identified as "one of the major reasons why overseas visitors come to Ireland".
He said the White Strand site was "very suitable" for this "unique and fully integrated tourism product", adding that Landmark National had a "particularly strong record in developing worldclass golf resorts in environmentally sensitive locations". Since then, however, the Heritage Council has published a report on the Doonbeg dune system which recommended that the area should be retained as an SAC, with a management plan put in place to ensure it retains its scientific value.
In order to qualify for the £2.4 million in EU aid approved in November by Bord Failte's Management Board for Product Development, Landmark National would need to complete its scheme by the end of 1999 - and this timetable is now in serious jeopardy.
Last week, Clare County Council requested further information on the scheme, deferring a decision for at least two months. Even if it gives the green light, the case is certain to be appealed to An Bord Pleanala by FIE, leading to a minimum delay of a further four months.
