Trump resort in Ireland will build seawalls to protect against climate change
President Donald Trump will finally get the wall he's after. However, it won't be along the U.S.-Mexico border. An Irish council on Thursday granted approval for a wall to be built around part of Trump's golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland to protect it from water erosion, The New York Times reported.
Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland previously applied to the Clare County Council for a continuous 1.7-mile long wall, but withdrew the application last year. Now, the resort will build a line of two low, concealed seawalls on the landward side of a public beach to prevent storm waters from eroding three holes of the course. One wall will be 2,000 feet long and the other 840 feet long
Although some residents supported the plan, hoping Trump would continue to invest money in the property and boost the small town's opportunity for employment, environmentalists strongly opposed the move.
Environmentalists said the new walls could damage a popular public beach and the vulnerable dunes and health. Other residents said the walls could alter tidal flows and reroute the storm surges onto their properties, according to the Times.
Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Irish Green Party opposed the walls, saying the party is considering appealing the decision.
"The best advice we had was that it would be better to move the golf holes farther inland, where there's room for them, rather than disrupt the beach," Ryan said.
The 38,000-thousand ton barrier would protect holes one, nine and 18, the Independent reported.
Joe Russell, the general manager of Trump Doonbeg, is happy with the decision and said the resort is excited to expand.
In the first application, Trump cited "global warming and its effects," including rising sea levels and water erosion, as reasons for the wall, Politico reported, despite his statements calling global warming and climate change "a total hoax." Global warming was not listed as a reason in this application.
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