Ireland’s biggest housebuilder Cairn Homes has offered members of Clontarf Golf & Bowling Club a package worth €75 million to relocate the club to a Paul McGinley-designed course in Kinsealy, north Dublin.
Under the terms of the offer, Cairn Homes would pay €15 million in cash to the club and provide a budget of €60 million to cover the costs of constructing a golf course, clubhouse, practice ground, bowling green and associated facilities at a 185-acre Abbeyville site.
The proposed site was once part of an estate owned by former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
This is Cairn’s latest attempt to engage with the Clontarf club on a land swap, having previously made an approach in March. This time around, the property developer has put a monetary value on the offer.
If it secures the land, Cairn, which has partnered with Green Land Capital on the proposal, hopes to build “thousands of homes” on the 72-acre site used by the club.
In a letter sent in late September to the Clontarf club’s president Anna Marie Dufficy and to Gerry Donnelly, the chair of its management committee, Cairn’s chief executive Michael Stanley outlined details of its offer, which has been dubbed Project Green.
He indicated that Cairn would engage with Dublin City Council, CIE (which owns two acres at the site) and the club to secure rezoning and planning permission for the land, which is located 4.3km (2.6 miles) from O’Connell Street.
The Clontarf club owns about 10 acres of the land, operating under a sporting lease from Dublin City Council for another 62 acres. All costs for the development of the new golf course would be verified by consultants appointed by the club’s members, Cairn has said.
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The proposal is subject to the Clontarf lands being rezoned for residential development and a “satisfactory” planning grant for new homes, along with the granting of permission for a new golf course in Kinsealy.
The new course in Kinsealy would be wholly owned by members of the Clontarf club.
“Cairn remains of the view that through open dialogue and meaningful collaboration, a compelling offer can be put forward to members of CGBC that will meet their aspirations,” the letter from Mr Stanley stated.
The Cairn chief has also offered to present its plan to club members, alongside former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.
In a statement to The Irish Times, Cairn confirmed that it had “engaged” with the officers of the Clontarf club to “explore the possibility of engaging in a land swap to potentially develop several thousand new homes on its existing lands, subject to zoning and planning permission”.
“Cairn has proposed to the officers the construction of a new golf course, a clubhouse, a bowling green, a practice ground and associated facilities at Abbeyville, Kinsealy for an investment of €60 million.
“In addition, Cairn has proposed a monetary contribution of €15 million to Clontarf Golf and Bowling Club. This initiative is at a preliminary stage and requires consideration from the club members.”
The Clontarf club is thought to have about 1,400 members and they would have to approve any deal. In 2022 members rejected an approach by Green Land for a land swap deal but this was before Cairn Homes became involved in the project in the past year.
The Clontarf club was contacted for comment. Green Land, which is led by businessman Ray Cotter and his sister Barbara Cotter, was also contacted for comment.
In 2007 members of the Clontarf club accepted a €125 million deal from Capel Developments that would have resulted in a payout of €100,000 to each full member and a relocation to the Portmarnock Links course. However, the deal fell apart in 2008 when Capel pulled out as the property crash loomed.
