Council knocks controversial wall

A CONTENTIOUS 8ft wall, built across a right-of-way in Caherfeenick, next to Doonbeg Golf Club was demolished on Monday by Clare County Council.

The council issued an enforcement order against Doonbeg Golf Club on April 28, ordering the club to knock the wall. The golf club has been told it must also reinstate the ground levels.
Lissycasey county councillor PJ Kelly told The Clare Champion that the issue should have been resolved without recourse to legal action and the expense involved.
The disputed right-of-way has been a matter of contention for several years. An oral hearing was held in Doonbeg in October 2008 into the proposed extinguishment of the 105m right-of-way, which cuts across the golf club.
As far back as June 23, 2004, Clare County Council informed the golf club it was “required to remove the unauthorised development works carried out and reinstate the lands to the satisfaction of the council”.
However, Doonbeg Golf Club appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála, which on May 25, 2005 backed Clare County Council’s ruling that the wall in question was “not exempted development”.
Subsequently, the golf club sought a judicial review of the Clare County Council and An Bord Pleanála decisions.
At the oral hearing in Doonbeg in October 2008, then county councillor Tom Prendeville queried why Clare County Council had not followed through on their own ruling and demolished the wall.
The road is a private entrance across the L61041, at Carrowmore, which is a public road.
In December 2007, a special meeting of Kilrush Area Councillors cleared the way to recommence procedures under the relevant sections of the Roads Act in relation to the extinguishment of a right-of-way on the public road L-61041. Fianna Fáil councillors Pat Keane and Bill Chambers, along with Christy Curtin (Independent) and Fine Gael Councillor Oliver Garry voted in favour of extinguishment of the right-of-way.
The then remaining councillors, Tom Prendeville and PJ Kelly (Fianna Fáil), along with Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (Fine Gael) voted against the proposed extinguishment.
All seven Kilrush Electoral Area councillors had signed an agreement in February 2007, stating that the matter of extinguishing the established public right-of-way at Caherfeenick would not be dealt with until after the High Court Judicial Review taken by Doonbeg Golf Club against An Bord Pleanála.