#Doonbeg - Doonbeg businesses and residents have come out in almost unanimous support for coastal defence works at Donald Trump's golf resort in the Co Clare village.

Two months ago the billionaire businessman and US presidential hopeful was stumped in efforts to bypass Clare County Council with plans for a 200,000-tonne, 2.8km rock wall to prevent coastal erosion alongside the links course he purchased in February 2014.

But as The Irish Times reports, Doonbeg says 'Yes' – as all but one of the local submissions to the council over the scheme give their backing to the embankment, which it's claimed would also protect local homeowners and farms from flooding.

Thirty-six of the 112 total submissions are opposed to the project. These include the Save Doughmore Beach Protection Group, a new association formed in the community north of Doonbeg, who say the rock wall will have a "negative effect for countless generations".

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#Doonbeg - Donald Trump may be topping Republican Party polls on the road to The White House, but the billionaire businessman has hit a stumbling block in proposals for his Doonbeg golf resort, as The Irish Times reports.

An Bord Pleanála has ruled that plans for a 200,000-tonne, 2.8km coastal embankment adjacent to the links course Trump purchased in February 2014 do not constitute a 'strategic infrastructure development', or SID, which would have allowed the scheme to bypass Clare County Council.

Now the plans – declared as protection against coastal erosion – must be resubmitted to the council for a decision whose outcome "will determine the future of our business, the local community and its citizens", according to the resort's general manager Joe Russell.

The application is expected to face opposition from environmentalists mindful of the area's protected species such as the narrow-mouth whorl snail, a tiny mollusc at the centre of controversy over unauthorised coastal defence works on the shoreline two years ago.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#CoastalNotes - Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has arrived in Ireland amid much pomp and circumstance, promising "hundreds" of jobs in Co Clare, according to TheJournal.ie.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Trump purchased the former Doonbeg Lodge and Golf Club on the Clare coast for a bargain €15 million after it went into receivership in January during the extraordinary stormy winter.

Subsequently the US Apprentice host became embroiled in a brouhaha over the fate of an endangered snail species that lives on the property, after he sent in lorry-loads of rock armour to shore up coastal defences without the requisite planning permission.

This morning (Monday 12 May) Trump arrived at Shannon Airport to a red carpet welcome, complete with a harpist, fiddle player and singer to play his alighting from his personal branded aircraft, before meeting Finance Minister Michael Noonan and local dignitaries.

On the agenda for the next three days will be Trump's ambitious plans for the golf resort, including the addition of a "truly great ballroom" that would "generate a lot of jobs".

He also pledged to work with environmentalists over the habitat of the narrow-mouth whorl snail - though dismissed claims that the tiny mollusc was unique to Doonbeg.

TheJournal.ie has much more on the story HERE.

#CoastalNotes - Donald Trump is moving to throw the book at Clare County Council in a brouhaha over unauthorised coastal defence works and concerns over the habitat of an endangered species of snail at his recently purchased Doonbeg Lodge golf resort.

The Irish Independent reports that the American property tycoon, who purchased the resort in February, sent in lorry-loads of rock armour to shore up the coastline and prevent further damage to the links course caused by the series of severe Atlantic storms earlier this year.

But the council served an enforcement notice against the works as planning permission had not been sought for the area, which is home to the protected narrow-mouth whorl snail, a tiny mollusc that has survived since the Ice Age.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

#CoastalNotes - Billionaire businessman Donald Trump is the new owner of the Doonbeg Lodge and Golf Club on the Clare coast, as RTÉ News reports.

The €15 million purchase - snapped up after it went into receivership last month - will see the coastal golfing resort renamed Trump International Golf Links, Ireland as it joins the fold of The Apprentice host's international property portfolio.

"Doonbeg is an already terrific property that we will make even better," said Trump in a statement. "It will be soon be an unparalleled resort destination with the highest standards of luxury."