Building housing on one of South Dublin’s many golf courses would “not be the world's biggest tragedy”, a mortgage expert has argued. 

Councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council will soon vote on whether golf courses should be designated as land that could potentially be used for housing in the future. 

If passed, one of the golf courses at risk is Stepaside Golf Centre and local members are aghast at the prospect. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, spokesperson Larry Roe described the course at “accessible” and at the heart of the community.

“I agree that we need houses in the crisis that we're n, but all that comes with a level of amenities that need to be with us,” he said. 

“We're kind of between two villages; we're between Stepaside and Kiltiernan - it's almost like a buffer zone between the two, it's a green buffer.

“We're very much a community service; I suppose many people see golf courses being very large, 100 acres, 120 acres, 18 hole golf course. 

“So, it's busy in the sense that all ages can use it, families use it, sports clubs use it, colleges, schools, they all use it at different ages. 

“And our point is we're accessible.”

'My right to chase after a little white ball'

Also on the programme, Irish Mortgage Brokers Director Karl Deeter argued that life is about “trade offs” and that a city with fewer golf courses but more houses would be worth it. 

“If you were to turn around and just say, 'Look, we're just going to purchase Milltown Golf Club' - this is a hypothetical before the rage texts start pouring in,” he said. 

“And we can actually put about 3,500 houses on there, roughly every 10th or 11th house built in this country would be there in Milltown. 

“Milltown is a great area, loads of amenities, loads of great stuff going on, everyone wants to live there. Why would you say no to that? 

“And people say, ‘Oh, because you're taking away my right to chase after a little white ball however many times I like to do it.’”

Mr Deeter added that golf clubs should consider selling land to developers to “help society”. 

“It's a sensible thing to do because if enough public outrage builds, eventually people are going to go on Google Maps, look at Dublin and say, ‘Wow, we have all this housing shortage, but look at these huge 200-acre tracts with nothing on it. We should just go and compulsory purchase them,’” he suggested. 

“And then you lose it all.

“Okay, so we have one less golf course in the country - like, shoot me now for saying that's not the world's biggest tragedy.

“I think that's perfectly acceptable as a trade-off.”

Main image: A split of a golf course and house building. Pictures by: Alamy and Rolling News.