A new 18-hole golf course, which is expected to cost nearly €20 million, is to go ahead. The course extends over 95 hectares of former woodlands owned by Coillte, the Forestry Board, near Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.
Final approval of the project, with some slight technical changes to the original layout, by An Bord Pleanála was announced yesterday. Last year Monaghan County Council formally approved a material contravention of the County Development Plan to facilitate the project, which is viewed as a huge tourism attraction.
The new course is being developed along the shores of Lough Muckno. It was designed by Christy O'Connor snr and his nephew, Christy O'Connor jnr.
The application for planning permission was lodged with the council by Concra Wood Golf and Country Club plc, a consortium formed by local community groups, golfers and businessmen.
A spokesman for the club said yesterday: "We are already involved in a huge investment programme for the new golf course and the aim is to make it one of the finest in Ireland.
"We are delighted that all obstacles to the project are now removed and the development can continue full steam ahead."
The spokesman added that the project would provide more than 50 new jobs.
Planning permission was previously granted to Harinbrook Properties Ltd, a London-based consortium of Irish businessmen for an 18-hole championship course adjacent to Lough Muckno, but it was subsequently withdrawn and the permission expired last year.