The Trump family have promised to make Doonbeg great again, despite making a €2.5 loss in their first year in charge of the golf course.
Eric Trump, who is overseeing the development of the luxury golf resort and hotel in Clare, said that the family always planned to make a significant investment in the business that cost them €8.7 million in February of last year.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the acquisition. We got the property in an incredible deal and we’re going to make it one of the great resorts in the world,” Mr Trump told The Times yesterday.
The company reported the €2.5 million loss for the year due to the write-off of various start-up costs.
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The report said that the delay in opening the golf course due to its redevelopment will lead to further losses this year. The director’s report showed that the 208 people employed on the site were paid €4,027,982 including social welfare costs last year.
Donald Trump, the US businessman and would-be presidential candidate, bought the site after it had been badly damaged by winter storms. His son Eric, who oversees much of the family’s golf portfolio, said that work on the course should be fully completed by next July.
“If not for that storm in the winter of 2014 we may not have been able to buy it. Three holes were lost to the sea and it was badly damaged, but we’ve spent millions now turning it back into a top class course,” Mr Trump said.
Development of the site had been delayed by a need to protect wildlife, issues with the local council and the Irish weather.
Greg Norman, the two time Open winner, originally designed the course now known as Trump International Golf Links, Ireland in 2002 but was limited by microscopic snails living in the sand dunes. The Carrowmore dunes have been designated a special area of conservation and the Vertigo angustior, a 2mm-long snail, is a protected species.
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The Trumps’ lawyers clashed with Clare county council last year when crews did not get permission to begin work on preventing further coastal erosion and storm damage on the site by placing rock armour along the dunes. After the council surveyed the Trumps’ plans an agreement was reached to allow work to restart.
Last month the Trump Organization applied to put 200,000 tonnes of boulders along a 2.8 km-long stretch of the beach in an attempt to protect the golf course from the sea.
“You have to remember how we bought this property. The storms had crushed the course and surrounding areas,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump said his father is still involved and interested in the development of Doonbeg, despite his present political commitments.
“He’s having a lot of fun with the presidential race but he loves golf and he loves that this is the family business. He’s always said that it is a terrific place and believe me there are days when he would rather be playing a few holes here,” he said.
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