An Taisce is being accused of being “obsessed with objections” by a Clare councillor.
A presentation by the environmental watchdog to the local authority last evening was mired with controversy, with one councillor storming out before it began, in protest to An Taisce’s stance against works at Trump Doonbeg.
Clare FM’s Fiona McGarry reports:
Last December, Clare County Council granted permission for coastal protection works at Doughmore Beach, near Trump Doonbeg, to protect against coastal erosion and flooding.
The proposal was the subject of a number of objections, from groups including An Taisce.
The council’s grant of planning is now the subject of a legal challenge by environmentalist Peter Sweetman.
And with tensions on the issue running high, it was raised with Ian Lumley from An Taisce, when he addressed the local authority last evening.
He says his organisation would have preferred if options, including the redesign of the course at Trump Doonbeg, were examined in the first instance.
But An Taisce’s defence of their approach in planning matters wasn’t well received by some members of the local council.
Before the presentation even began, Lisseycasey Fianna Fáil Councillor PJ Kelly stormed out, branding the environmental watchdog a ‘perennial objector’.
A number of his council colleagues accused An Taisce of standing in the way of development in rural Ireland.
Councillor Kelly outlines why he refused to sit through the presentation.
