Sand dunes are among Ireland's most valuable, and rare, coastal ecosystems. But golf courses continue to gobble them up. Why are EU and national environmental directives being trampled on, ask Richard Nairn and Paddy Woodworth
'Golf," Mark Twain is reputed to have said, "is a good walk spoiled". No golfer would agree. Indeed, it's not unusual to see a golfer bend down to look at a plant, or pause to watch a flock of geese feeding on the fairway. This image of nature and the golfer in happy coexistence can be misleading, however. Walking in the country may not be spoiled by golf, but the countryside itself may be spoiled by golf courses.
Since last August, three large mechanical diggers have been tearing at a line of sand dunes in west Donegal. The officials who should have been protecting this natural habitat seem to have stuck their collective heads in the sand. The golf club at Narin-Portnoo beach is busy extending its links course from the flat area inland into the high sand dunes near the beach. Marram grass has been uprooted and piled high, orchids have been ploughed into the ground, and skylarks drowned out by the machines.
What of it, you may well ask. To the casual observer, sand dunes can appear a rather sterile, desert-like environment. However, dune systems are a valuable habitat for some of Ireland's rare or threatened birds, among them the chough and the snow bunting. They are also surprisingly rich in vegetation and molluscs. Marram grass plays a vital function in stabilising dunes, which are an exceptionally mobile and dynamic habitat.
All this is well known to naturalists, but the works at Narin-Portnoo are taking place without planning permission, let alone specialist environmental scrutiny. Last August, the golf club captain, David Kelly, told The Irish Times that no planning permission is needed, but this is open to question.
However, the club secretary, Thomas Plunkett, refused to elaborate on this statement, or on new developments since then, when contacted this week.
Kelly had also said that the club had "met with Dúchas" (now the National Parks and Wildlife Service) and that the heritage agency was "satisfied" that the works were "causing no damage". However, the local regional manager of the NPWS, Joe Gatins, told us this week that he was not aware of any such meeting or statement.
The works are also being undertaken without the benefit of any environmental impact assessment (EIA), despite the fact that sand dunes are a priority habitat under EU legislation. An EIA would not necessarily prevent development, but would ensure that strict limits were set, to minimise damage.
Moreover, these particular dunes are adjacent to an EU-designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC), where any work should be notified to the local authority. Pipes have been laid from the dunes to a lough on the SAC itself.
Ian Lumley, heritage officer of An Taisce, has pointed out to the Donegal County Council, in a letter calling for a halt to the works, that "there is a mounting level of complaints being made to the European Commission arising from Ireland's failure to comply with the this_is_a_left_sq_bracketEU] Habitats Directive". He believes that the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has been "negligent in its responsibilities" to designate and protect priority habitats.
THE CHIEF PLANNING officer of Donegal County Council, Jim Harley, told The Irish Times that when he consulted the NPWS in August, he was assured the works "pose no threat whatsoever to the adjoining SAC". He says the local official he spoke to did not inform him that dunes themselves are a priority habitat.
Again, Joe Gatins contests this. He says that the NPWS was not consulted by the council prior to the works beginning, which would have been the normal procedure. "We were unaware of them until we received local complaints. I was the one who contacted the council and was told planning exemption had been granted.
"Our local ranger had informed local planners that it was priority habitat, and that is on record, though Harley may not know that. If Harley is saying I gave him the go-ahead, I am categorically denying that." Eamonn Brennan, a senior NPWS official specialising in site protection, wrote to Harley in mid-September, and stated, "you are informed as to the existence of priority habitat on the site in question. The development work is capable of being viewed as extending an existing golf course". (Extension, unlike alteration, requires planning permission.)
"I believe that DCC did not comply with best planning practice, which would have been to do an EIA before any work started," Brennan told The Irish Times.
"If I had had half an inkling important habitat was endangered, I would have commissioned an EIA," Harley responded. "But I have to take guidance from my colleagues in the NPWS. If I hold up a development, I have to give good grounds for it, and the local NPWS had told me there were no grounds." He says he is now awaiting clarification of the NPWS position, and adds that he is "not aware of the extent of outstanding works by the golf club", though other observers say they are advancing steadily towards the SAC.
As Gatins points out, the Narin-Portnoo dunes had previously been acknowledged by the county council as environmentally significant. A large sign on the beach proclaims they are part of an EU-funded project designed by DCC and the University of Ulster (Coleraine). It aims to demonstrate the practice of integrated Coastal Zone Management (CZM) "by developing and implementing sustainable uses of dune systems".
A local environmentalist, Ralph Shepherd, says that the NPWS is demoralised following the dismemberment of Dúchas, and by former environment minister Martin Cullen's general hostility to ecological concerns. "It is hard enough for them to protect SACs themselves, so being proactive about an area adjacent to an SAC would risk being seen as rattling their cage," he says.
Yet both the NPWS and local authority planning officers are ultimately responsible to the same minister. While the bureaucracy echoes to the sound of bucks being passed, the sound of bulldozers has advanced to the foredunes, at the very edge of the SAC.
DR DEREK JACKSON, senior lecturer in environmental science at University of Ulster, says that he is "astonished at the level of operations and that no consultations appear to have taken place. In my opinion this_is_a_left_sq_bracketthis development] has a major impact on both the physical landscape and fauna and flora at the immediate site." He fears it "may end up setting the beach into disequilibrium and may cause further problems for the golf club at foredune sections further along the beach/golf course coastline".
The entire dune-beach system is certainly connected, and it seems to make no sense to attempt to protect one part without managing the others in a similar way.
John Cromie, the local chairman of Birdwatch Ireland, alerted Jim Harley to the potential dangers of the development in mid-August, apparently to no avail. "The question we in Donegal have for our local planning authority and for the National Parks and Wildlife Service is a simple one," he said this week. "Do all your fine policies on protection of biodiversity and our natural heritage actually mean anything in practice?"
Narin-Portnoo is far from being an isolated case. There are many examples of the problems associated with siting golf courses in eroding sand dunes.
Links courses at Newcastle, Co Down; Portmarnock, Co Dublin; Castlegregory, Co Kerry; Lahinch, Co Clare; Ballyconneely, Co Galway; and Doogh Isle, Co Donegal all have problems with naturally eroding dune fronts, sand blow and artificially stabilised vegetation.
LINKS GOLF - THAT is, golf based on sand dunes - is generally regarded as the cream of golfing in Ireland. According to the tourism body, Fáilte Ireland, there are more of these courses here than in any other country. The Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) has 408 affiliated clubs and is predicting a rise to 450 clubs by the year 2010. So where are these new clubs to be developed? How many of our remaining intact dune systems - reduced to just 10 from 190 over the past century - will be made available for golfing?
The GUI is affiliated to the European Golf Association (EGA), which has published best practice guidelines for golf course management (www.ega-golf.com). These recommend the commissioning of environmental impact assessments, and sensitivity to nationally and internationally designated sites.
Indeed, the impact of golf courses on the natural environment does not have to be negative. Natterjack toads will breed in artificial ponds, and butterflies will fly in the rough grass between the fertilised greens.
At Narin-Portnoo, it appears that the golf club is ignoring the guidelines issued by the European Golf Association. The NPWS stands accused by local environmentalists of failing to fight its corner and give timely, proactive advice to the local authority based on EU directives. And Donegal County Council is flying in the face of its own Coastal Zone Management Scheme.
The golf club has been remarkably silent in all this, and repeated efforts in the past fortnight to contact both the captain and the secretary elicited no further comment.
We contacted the former secretary, Enda Bonner, who also happens to be a Fianna Fáil county councillor. "I can't speak for the club now," he said, "but I can't see why they would want to talk to you. I wouldn't want to facilitate people like you in any shape or form. There would be no work in the country if people running around making complaints had their way."
Donegal Heritage Network has called for the works to be halted pending assessment. When we asked Bonner whether, as a public representative, he wanted to respond to concerns about the environment expressed by local people, he insisted that the NPWS had advised the council there was no problem. When told this was not the NPWS position, he replied: "Well, the work is finished now anyway."
If that is the case, and the development turns out to have violated EU directives, the club and the council - and thus the Irish taxpayer - may face a massive bill. Habitat restoration is much more expensive, and time-consuming, than assessing potential damage before work begins.
Maybe it is time that the Government officials took some heads out of the sand. The newly appointed Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, who has made some robust statements about irresponsible planning - but has also notoriously attempted to rubbish An Taisce - has a good opportunity to nail his colours to the mast at an early stage with this issue.
Richard Nairn is a scientist and environmental consultant. Paddy Woodworth is an author and journalist