They call it the latest act in the habitats drama. The star? The Great White Shark himself, Australian golfer Greg Norman. Location? The dunelands of Doonbeg, Co Clare. The plot? To turn Ireland into a theme park for rich Yanks and Europeans.
"Land made by God" is how Norman described Doonbeg when he visited it late last year to promote a £12 million golf course scheme backed by Shannon Development
Lying between Ballybunion and Lahinch, White Strand at Doonbeg is backed by almost 400 acres of marine landscape, including 65-foot dune complexes designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
When Shannon Development acquired it, it sold it as one of "the last such sand dune sites" available in western Europe, because of new and more rigid environmental regulations.
The pitch caught the eye of US business interests, under the label Landmark National, who hope to benefit from £2.4 million in EU funding. Since then, the semiState company says, it has worked closely with bodies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), An Taisce and the Heritage Council to draw up a plan to protect the landscape.
Greg Norman was enlisted as a designer. The project was given a working title, Doonbeg Golf Resort. The plan was to include two 18-hole and one nine-hole courses, along with a residential development, holiday cottages and a 90-bedroom hotel.
As he walked the dunes to examine the proposed route of the links, Norman was accompanied by an NPWS official. "I'll be cognisant of the environment," the international golfer pledged.
The project has been condemned by members of Friends of the Irish Environment, who believe that the way it is being handled raises very serious questions for sensitive habitats generally.
White Strand was an original Area of Scientific Interest (ASI), now superseded by the SAC designation, and is also listed for protection on scientific grounds in the Clare Development Plan.
An ecologist's report in 1993 noted that it was "a fine example of abundant marram-covered fore dunes." It was on the draft SAC list submitted to Brussels, according to Sara Dillon of Friends of the Irish Environment, who is a specialist in European law.
She believes that attempts are now being made to redraw the boundaries of the SAC designation to suit the golf-course development.
The legal implications of the EU Habitats Directive are unequivocal, she says. Sites identified as hosting important European habitats and species must receive the protection of national law.
How then can an area once thought valuable enough to be placed on a national list be better handed over to a golf-course development? Golf courses, especially those which include a large residential and hotel accommodation component, cannot in any sense be thought of as environmentally neutral, she says.
This criticism has been rejected by Shannon Development, which says the project is outside the boundaries of an SAC.
The company is committed to ensuring that all environmental issues are addressed, it says. An environmental impact statement (EIS) is being prepared by McHugh Consultants. Mr Bernard McHugh believes it is possible to build a golf course which will be sensitive to the ecology. There are many examples in Britain, he says.
Local feeling is mixed. But the lure of 100 jobs is proving irresistible. Mr Bill McNamara, who runs the Flowing Tide, an international folk music centre at the northern end of the dunes, believes that a compromise is possible which will satisfy all concerns.
"Plantlife and wildlife are fine, but we need people, too," he says. He has 15 children, "and I don't like saying goodbye to them at airports."
