Experts say Trump seawall will destroy Doonbeg beach
FOUR leading geologists have said Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall at his Doonbeg resort will ruin the beach at the West Clare beauty spot. The international experts made their claims in a letter to Clare County Council before Thursday’s meeting to decide whether the seawall should go ahead.
Trump International, which says it’s vital to protect the luxury resort’s golf course, is backed by hundreds of locals who want to protect jobs.
But the academics say ‘there is no question’ that a seawall of any size or shape will cause the loss of the beach’. Andrew G Cooper of the University of Ulster, Joseph Kelley of the University of Maine at Oronoco, William Neal of Grand Valley State University and Orrin Pilkey, of Duke University, have warned a wall will ruin the area forever.
‘We want to emphasise our absolute certainty that the proposed seawalls will destroy the beach in front of them and will increase the rate of erosion on adjacent beaches,’ they said.
‘The only question is the timing – will it happen in a few years or will it happen in a decade or two? It will happen.’
Mr Trump has called all objectors to the wall ‘whingers’.