DUBLIN, Feb 24 (Reuters) - An Irish council on Tuesday approved a plan by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump to build a ballroom on their west of Ireland golf course, subject to conditions that local media said included helping to protect a tiny species of snails.
Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg on the west coast in December applied to build the ballroom for 320 guests, with Trump’s son Eric telling the Sunday Independent it would be “the nicest ballroom in the country”.
However environmentalists objected to the proposal, saying more needed to be done to improve the status of a rare snail present at the site.
Clare County Council planners in a decision published on its website said it granted planning permission for the ballroom subject to 14 conditions. A spokesperson said the conditions would be published later on Tuesday.
The Clare Echo newspaper reported that one of the conditions requested that the golf club submit a management plan for the protected snail, including conservation management actions to restore its favourable status on the lands.
According to the plans, the new ballroom will be 1,240 square meters, a small fraction of the 8,360 square meters of the ballroom planned for the White House.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin; editing by Sarah Young)
