*Photograph: Arthur Ellis.
INVESTMENT will be needed in West Clare to give the country a strong international impression when The Irish Open takes place in Doonbeg next September, the Minister for Sport has said.
Since 2014, the Trump Organisation has invested €40m in its five star Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland.
From September 10th to 13th, Trump Doonbeg will host The Irish Open which will be preceded on September 5th and 6th by the staging of the first first Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club.
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan (FG) is the first Cabinet figure to publicly state the importance of The Irish Open being a success with US President, Donald Trump tipped to visit West Clare during the tournament.
Speaking on Limerick Today, Minister O’Donovan stated, “Up the road in Doonbeg, we’re going to have The Irish Open here in the Mid-West in Co Clare in the summer. We may very well have a Presidential visit, I don’t know but it is a strong possibility, considering he owns the golf club. It is in our interest that we do these things and do them right, it sets a tone for how people view Ireland internationally and that that produces foreign direct investment, it is from an awful lot of these anecdotal, coincidental or accidental meetings that opportunities come around for investment in Limerick, Clare or wherever, that is really important”.
In order to set such a tone, Minister O’Donovan and his Cabinet colleagues will be pressed to invest in Co Clare to make the right impression.
September 2027 will see The Ryder Cup take place at Adare Manor. Work is underway on the €150m Adare Bypass since February 2025, assurances have been issued by senior Government figures and construction firm, Sorensen Civil Engineering that the project will be delivered on time. The €151.1m Foynes to Limerick freight line is planned to come into operation in 2026 and further strengthens connectivity for the Ryder Cup.
No confirmation or funding package has been announced for West Clare in advance of The Irish Open or Walker Cup.
Senior officials in Clare County Council are understood to have made a special request for additional funding in November ahead of the major golfing tournaments coming to the county.
Cllr Michael Shannon (FF) has said that an investment in the region of €20m is needed for West Clare to improve the county’s road network and physical infrastructure prior to September. “My eyebrows were raised when I heard €10m was paid out to bring the NFL to Dublin, we’re talking double that figure because of the physical deficit we have,” he stated.
Behind closed doors briefings have been held by elected members of the West Clare Municipal District on preparations for the tournaments but no major funding has been secured to shout about, nine months out from golfers teeing off in Doonbeg and Lahinch.
