Sir, - Dermot Gilleece's truly heart-rendering account of the troubles and travails experienced by the developers of Bearna Golf Club (August 12th) was so moving as to prompt this reader to reflect for a moment on the unsung heroes of Irish golf.
The article recounted how local entrepreneurs Pat Donnellan, Sean and Michael Meade and Mayo business associate Frank O'Gara redeemed the townland of Carboley from its condition of natural innocence, which was apparently an offence to their collective eye. They proceeded to convert this natural wilderness into a 250-acre golf course "carved out of a typical Connemara landscape of rock, bog, gorse and heather".
This was achieved despite the fact that "the typical Connemara landscape" was zoned as a view of high amenity value in the Co. Galway Development Plan and had to be rezoned, despite intensive lobbying and trenchant objection by An Taisce and concerned environmentalists, which resulted in the Department of the Environment changing the status of golf club development and removing the exempted development status which such developments had enjoyed before Bearna. Mr Donnellan and his associates can now charge £15 on weekdays and £20 on Sundays for access to what was an amenity free to the public at large.
According to Mr Gilleece they are to be hugely congratulated. They have achieved the ultimate Irish entrepreneurial aim in stopping nature's misguided progression and changing God's handiwork. - Yours etc.,
Henry Comerford,
Corandulla, Co Galway.