Priest and community win High Court battle with golf club owners over access to beach
A PRIEST and a community group have won their High Court case against the owners of a luxury golf club that blocked an access road to a beach in west Donegal.
The High Court ruled that a public right of way to Castlegoland Beach is to be restored after an almost fouryear battle between Fr John Moore, the Save Our Beach at Castlegoland group, and the world-renowned Nairn and Portnoo Golf Club.
Brothers Liam and Paul McDevitt and their company, Knather Acquisitions Unlimited, have until February 15 to remove gates and gate posts from the road, which have obstructed traffic from accessing the beach.
Fr Moore, whose family home is next to the strand, and the Save Our Beach community group, launched their court action last September and on January 25 their case against was finally listed for hearing.
A group spokesman told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘The High Court action was taken because Liam McDevitt and the golf links have consistently disregarded proper planning procedures and repeatedly ignored warning letters and enforcement notices from Donegal County Council over many years.
‘The result of the High Court action is that owners of Narin and Portnoo Links, Liam McDevitt (a resident of the USA), his brother Paul McDevitt (of Ballyshannon)
‘This was a huge win for us’
and their company Knather Acquisitions Unlimited have had to remove unauthorised and unsightly electric fencing along Narin Strand Blue Flag Beach and from along the Carrickfad headland to Castlegoland Beach.
‘This was a huge win for us, as we have been campaigning to keep this headland open since it was blocked in 2019.’
The McDevitt brothers were also ordered to pay all the costs of legal proceedings incurred by the Save Our Beach at Castlegoland campaign, which is expected to be a six-figure sum.
The golf club, in a popular northwest holiday destination, had been in financial difficulty for some time and was in the hands of an American vulture fund when it was purchased in 2017 by businessman Liam McDevitt and his partner Liam Foley for a reported €1.7million.
Originally from Ballyshannon in south Donegal, Mr McDevitt moved to the US almost 30 years ago, where he runs a successful real estate and construction business in Connecticut.
Celebrated golf course designers Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner were hired to renovate the 130-acre property. It reopened in 2020 and is now regarded as a premier golf destination.
However, at the beginning of summer 2019, locals said they were surprised to discover that an existing gate across the small roadway that leads down to the strand had been padlocked. Public access and rights to Castlegoland have, they said, ‘existed since time immemorial’.
They also pointed out that the Co. Donegal Development Plan 2012-2016, which outlines the local council’s obligation to protect public rights of way, lists Castlegoland Beach as one of 44 registered rights of way.
In statement last year to the Irish Daily Mail, the owner of the golf club said they had to restrict access because of ‘health and safety-related incidents’, and a letter was sent to their members in June 2019, which explained the closure. He said many members of ‘the club and committee who are local residents were consulted before the closure took place’.
Issues included ‘an increased amount of non-golfers walking throughout the golf course as if it were a public park’, and the course being ‘invaded on multiple occasions with horses from neighbouring properties that have had to be removed’.
The letter claimed the decision was taken because ‘the dunes are being eroded on the beach side from human traffic leaving and entering the golf course’, and the marram grass is being destroyed.
Campaigners rejected these claims and said they ‘felt compelled to try to protect the sensitive ecology of this wonderful location and the public’s access to Castlegoland Beach’.
They also pointed out that several other unauthorised developments at Narin and Portnoo Links are still the subject of enforcement notices from Donegal County Council.
But for now, locals are ‘delighted’ at the outcome, not least Fr John Moore’s family. The priest’s father, also John, died aged 95 in November 2022. His final wish was for his funeral cortege to be driven down to Castlegoland
‘He talked about the beach constantly’
Beach but it was prevented from accessing the road. The life-long resident had often joined protests staged at the gate and his daughter Edel said that, although he spent his final few months at a facility for older people in Killybegs, the fight for access was never far from his thoughts.
She said: ‘He talked about the beach constantly. In a way it was an extension of his own farm and of himself.’
Yesterday the Save our Beach group said they’ve always recognised the importance of the club as an amenity in the area.