There is no question that Donald Trump will return to Doonbeg many times as president of the Unites States, his son Eric predicted confidently on Sunday as he opened a €5 million redesigned links course in west Clare.
"Right now, my father is winning the day in America. If the vote was today, he would be president of the Unites States," Eric Trump said.
Looking on at the course redesigned by Martin Hawtree at the end of a two-year project, Mr Trump said: "I think people are blown away by what they see . . . We have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this property. It is a special day for the family. It is a property we love."
Mr Trump said to date, the Trumps have invested “north of $50 million to $60 million” on Doonbeg including the purchase price since February 2014 and are ready to spend more.
Mr Trump said his father, the expected Republican nominee for president, knew every inch of the course.
“I was on the phone to him earlier for 20 minutes and he was asking: ‘How is [hole] four looking? How is six? How is 18?’ He was very envious of me being here.”
Plans were lodged last week with Clare County Council for a €10 million coastal protection works to protect the course from being washed away by Atlantic storms.
“When I came here and saw it for the first time in 2014, they lost 20 or 30 metres of dunes – you have a couple more storms and quite frankly that course doesn’t exist,” Eric Trump said.
“If that course doesn’t exist, neither does the hotel because I would say upwards 90 per cent of all people who come to this resort are coming with golf clubs. If you take away that amenity, this place couldn’t survive.”
