Trump’s Irish golf course lost $2.3 million in 2016

President Donald Trump’s golf course in Ireland lost about $2.3 million in 2016, according to new documents filed with the Irish government — the latest in a series of Trump golf clubs that have recently reported losses or declining revenue.

The Irish course, called Trump International Golf Links Ireland, is located in Doonbeg on the island’s west coast. It was bought by the Trump Organization in 2014, and then renovated — requiring more than $32 million in spending so far by the president’s company — before fully reopening in May 2016.

The new figures for 2016, provided Tuesday by the Trump club, show some good news for the course. Its revenue increased by 30 percent in 2016. Its operating losses were only half what they’d been in 2015.

But the bottom line was that the course lost money, for a third year in a row.

Its total losses of $2.3 million were only about 15 percent lower than they’d been in 2015, while the course was hamstrung all year by renovations.

In the club’s annual filing to Irish regulators, the Trump Organization did not offer an explanation for the club’s continued losses, saying instead that it was “confident [of] the return of operating profits in 2017.”

Eric Trump, the president’s son who is now helping to run his businesses, did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.

Eric Trump told the Irish Times, which first reported the Doonbeg club’s losses, that “it is incredibly gratifying to see our vision for Trump Doonbeg come to life. I continue to be impressed by the beautiful product and the business improvement at the property.”

The club’s general manager told the Irish Times that he also expected the club to lose money overall in 2017. The official figures for 2017 will likely not be filed with the Irish government until late 2018.

So far, it appears that Trump’s divisive presidency has pulled his businesses — which the president still owns — in opposite directions.

At Trump businesses that can sell the glamour of the presidency itself, or a hope of access to the president or his circle, business has surged. Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C., for instance, has reported unexpected profits. His Mar-a-Lago Club has raised membership fees and raised the ticket price for a New Year’s Eve party that the president attended.

But at other businesses — located in more liberal areas, offering no access to the president himself — the Trump presidency seems to be hurting, not helping, his businesses.