*Photograph: Julian Behal.
DOONBEG HAS many high-profile business personnel within its community and its gearing up for the return of former US President Donald Trump who is to visit his hotel and golf resort next month.
Valued at $30m, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland has been owned by the Trump family since 2014. It continues to be one of the biggest employers in West Clare which has 305 staff at peak season.
Talk of a potential visit had been mooted in recent weeks but has been confirmed by hotel management.
Donald Trump or the West Clare hotelier as he is commonly known around these parts is to stay in the five star hotel for two days next month. He is to arrive in Shannon Airport on May 4th, flying in via private jet. He will depart on May 5th and move onto Scotland where the Trump family also own two luxurious properties.
Trump’s visit means by the end of 2023, half of the living Presidents of the United States of America will have visited Ireland in the one year with both Bill Clinton and Joe Biden having been to the Emerald Isle over recent weeks.
A large-scale security operation is expected to be rolled out, led by US Security and the US Secret Service. A high amount of Gardaí are expected to be involved while ironically West Clare remains without a Superintendent since the end of February.
He last visited West Clare and Ireland in June 2019 whilst he still resided in The White House as US President. Although he did not venture outside the Trump resort during this stay, he held a meeting with then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (FG) at Shannon Airport. This trip which wasn’t an official state visit saw no fly zones and road closures in place across the county.
Last August, Trump had been due to travel to Co Clare but the trip was cancelled at the last minute.
“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing over it,” local publican David Tubridy quipped following Clare’s three point Munster semi-final win over Limerick about the impending visit of Trump.
Local Fianna Fáil councillors used the visit as a source of ribbing at a meeting of the Rural Development Strategic Policy Committee (SPC). Cllr Shane Talty (FF) told the meeting that he looked forward to Kilkee based Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) “welcoming ex President Trump to West Clare” to which Murphy swiftly replied, “you are the Cathaoirleach of the West Clare Municipal District”.
Rita McInerney of The Wild Atlantic Break Café explained, “He plans to visit in conjunction with his visit to Scotland, it is primarily a business visit”. She added, “The Trump family have owned the business since 2014, they are very familiar with the property and any security or US security given the last visit would be very familiar with the resort, we’re quite remote and isolated so it is quite easy to navigate and secure a property like that, we haven’t had the Guards in to check us yet but I’m sure they will and keep us informed. The 2019 visit went off very successfully”.
