Golf club told to draw up plan for rare snail's protection

Lahinch golf club has been told to put in place a long-term management programme for a rare protected snail before the club starts work on coastal protection works at its golf links course.

Earlier this year, the club lodged plans to Clare County Council to carry out coastal protection along the bank of the Inagh River, which is a candidate Special Area of Conservation.

The golf club is seeking to carry out the protection works for a distance of almost 200 metres near O'Brien's Bridge on the Liscannor road, towards the mouth of the Inagh river.

In April the council put the plan on hold due to concerns over the conservation of the 2mm Vertigo angustior, which is protected under the EU Habitats Directive.

In response, the golf club commissioned a leading authority on the snail, Ms Evelyn Moorkens, to carry out a study at the course.

It was Ms Moorkens who, in 1999, discovered the presence of the snail at the Greg Norman-designed golf links course at Doonbeg.

The snail's presence at Doonbeg was eventually the subject of a High Court agreement between the promoters of the golf club and environmentalists. An estimated 10 million of the snails are at Doonbeg.

In her study at Lahinch, carried out on May 13th and 14th last, Ms Moorkens recorded the presence of the snail in 25 out of 35 samples taken from both the main course and the Castle course.

The snail "appears to be thriving in the rough areas of the golf courses", she said in her report.

However, she added, the planned coastal protection works "do not impinge directly on the Vertigo angustior habitat, nor do they impinge indirectly on the conditions that this species requires as they will not have any effect on drainage or on the hydrology of the area."

She concluded: "If the coastal protection works succeed in preventing the erosion of the cliffs grassland, they may actually protect rather than threaten the population of the Vertigo angustior in their vicinity by maintaining a buffer zone between the Vertigo angustior habitat and exposed coast."

The club has secured planning permission for the works, on condition that a long-term management plan for the snail's presence on site be submitted and agreed by the Planning Authority before the works go ahead.