US president Donald Trump reported earning income of €11 million from his golf resort at Doonbeg in Co Clare in just 15 months, a new personal financial disclosure shows.
The businessman-turned-politician, who described his west of Ireland golf club as "small potatoes" during last year's presidential election campaign, reported "golf-related revenue" of $12,498,172 (€11,168,621) from the resort in the period from January 2016 to mid-April of this year in the voluntary disclosure.
The US president values the club at $5 million-$25 million (€4 million-€20.5 million) in his latest filing to the Office of Government Ethics, the same valuation he assigned to the club in financial disclosure forms he submitted in July 2015, a month after he launched his presidential bid, and in May 2016.
It is hard to compare income earned in successive years from the Co Clare resort, which he bought in 2014. The three disclosure forms he has filed since 2015 cover overlapping and varying reporting periods, though he appears to be earning more from the resort since he entered politics.
In July 2015, Mr Trump disclosed that he earned income of $10,755,683 from Doonbeg in the previous 18-month period and in May 2016 declared income of $10,750,645 in the previous 16-month period.
His latest disclosure, which was filed on Friday and runs to 98 pages, shows Mr Trump resigned as “president/director” of two Irish companies behind “Trump International Golf Links – Doonbeg” – TIGL Ireland Enterprises and TIGL Ireland Management – on January 19th, 2017, the day before he became president.
The 45th US president maintains 100 per cent ownership of the Doonbeg resort through a corporate entity called TW Venture II LLC, according to the financial disclosure form. He discloses details of another company at “Doonbeg, Ireland” called TW Venture II Managing Member Corp.
Mr Trump once boasted as a presidential candidate that his wealth exceeded “$10 billion dollars” but his voluntary disclosure forms offer little corroboration to back up this claim.
According to the latest filing, the former reality TV star assigns a value of at least $1.4 billion on his property, hotel and golf interests that span the globe.
Tax returns
There has been no full and independent analysis of Mr Trump’s finances as the Republican president has refused to release his tax returns , which would reveal his exact income.
Mr Trump’s income from his Irish golf resort amounts to a fraction of almost $600 million in revenue generated during the 15-month period, according to the disclosure.
The money earned on his Irish golf interests compare to $14.5 million generated at his Scottish golf course, Turnberry, and $37 million from Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach club in Florida where he has spent several weekends since he became president five months ago.
Mr Trump, who refers to the Florida club as the “Winter White House”, has benefited financially from Mar-a-Lago since he became president. He reported an increase of $7.5 million in income from the resort, which doubled its joining fee to $200,000 after he was elected, on his May 2016 filing.
