by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:00 AM ET, Wed December 7, 2016
United States President-elect Donald Trump and his company have hit a snag with a recent plan to build a seawall around its golf course in Ireland due to environmental concerns and the impact on a rare type of snail.
According to The Independent, Trump's business was looking to build a 200,000 metric ton barrier to stop erosion along the sand dunes at the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland in Doonbeg.
On Monday, officials from the Clare County Council announced the proposal to build a wall along Doughmore beach has been withdrawn due to objections from residents, community groups, businesses and conservationists.
The project was looking to protect the golf course after winter storms had destroyed sections of the beach and dunes in recent years. Despite arguing against the existance of global warming in the past, Trump cited the phenomena and rising sea levels in the application for the seawall structure.
One of the main reasons the project was shelved was the possibility that the wall could endanger the narrow-mouthed whorl snail, which is currently listed as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species despite surviving since the Ice Age. The snails depend on precise conditions to survive, which would be impacted by the construction of the seawall.
Another group that strongly opposed the project was surfers and other water sports enthusiasts in Ireland, who believe the wall would have altered the dynamics of the waves and made it dangerous to enter the water at high tide.
In response, Trump's company will be filing a new planning application to insert metal sheet piles into the ground on the golf course which will be covered by limestone boulders on the base of the piles, making the construction blend into the environment.
A Trump Hotels spokesperson said construction would be "wholly within lands owned by the golf course."
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