MAKE CLARE GREAT AGAIN!
What they really think in Doonbeg of Trump... who asked the priest to ‘Get me to Heaven’
‘If he didn’t buy the hotel Nama could have got it’ ‘Protesters should get our own house in order ’
WHEN Donald Trump last visited Doonbeg, he left the local parish priest ‘dumbfounded’ by asking him: ‘Get me to Heaven.’
Days before he announced his candidacy for the US presidency in June 2015, Fr Joe Haugh, 85, met Mr Trump at his five-star west Clare hotel. ‘He was thinking of his final destination. No politician ever asked me that. I was dumbfounded,’ Fr Haugh told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
So, will he get to Heaven? ‘Ah, I’d say he will. We’re all a mixture of good and bad. He has done a lot for Doonbeg and west Clare, creating hundreds of jobs every summer. Nobody else has done that for us. We have three top restaurants open in the summer.’
While some locals wonder if they are ‘selling their souls’ by supporting the hotel, Fr Haugh is not one of them. ‘I just accept people as they are. I think he’s good overall, he’s putting America first and that’s his job,’ he said. What about his attitude to women? ‘That’s in the past,’ he says firmly. And his policies on migrants? ‘Illegal migrants,’ responds Fr Haugh. Anyone who protests in Clare or Doonbeg, he says, will be ‘blow-ins’ and ‘outsiders’.
‘The natives, the people who live here, like him. If he hadn’t bought the hotel, it could have gone to Nama or somebody.’
Some locals walk away at the mention of his name but most seek to separate his Clare interest from his US policies, arguing you have to respect the presidency, and point to a billionaire family doing for Doonbeg what Obama did for Moneygall – and more.
‘Making west Clare great again,’ is becoming the new mantra.
In the lobby of the Doonbeg hotel, Joe Russell’s phone lights up every couple of seconds. The general manager for the last 15 years, during which time it has seen four owners, has been inundated with calls and texts since the news broke last Friday night of the next visit.
He has vivid memories of Mr Trump’s last trip and his delight at looking out on the Atlantic. ‘He stood out on that green and said, “Man, I didn’t realise this place is so gorgeous.”’ Trump left Ireland that weekend – after his third visit to Doonbeg when he acquired the hotel and golf club for a reported €9m – and declared his candidacy on the following Tuesday, June 16.
‘It was a perfect day. He was great on the golf course – fun, not too uptight. He came in, enjoys the food, enjoys the fun. Gets to bed early, and is up early. Doesn’t drink, no vices like that, but is good company. He loves golf and knows golf. He is able to see things that help redevelop the golf course,’ he says.
After a round of golf, they enjoyed fish and chips, and a burger. Trump has been known to enjoy more than the occasional burger. ‘He likes a good burger,’ said Mr Russell, with a laugh. With Trumpian confidence, he said business has never been better and appears to be getting even better – largely thanks to the well-oiled Trump machine.
‘Last year was our best ever year since we opened up the place, and this year will beat last year, and next year is looking good.’ He puts it down to ‘an improving US economy, an improving Irish economy, and the brand of Trump and the company have a wider reach than we did as an independent property’. Some 60% of their business hails from overseas, and of that, 52% is American, followed by the UK market. The Asian market isn’t ‘anything of note – yet’, he adds, but that could change after Trump’s mid-November visit. On a quiet September afternoon, little is open in Doonbeg. This is pre-winter season when the hotel will close its doors in November for weekdays until February. But this November will be different. The hotel organises bus services to the village, spreading trade to restaurants and pubs nearby. Many locals are impressed by Eric and Donald Jr, who have been keen to establish links with locals. Both oversee the running of the hotel. Mr Russell says: ‘Eric was here a few times this year, and I only spoke to him last week. They are great to work with, because it’s a “Yes” or it’s a “No”, or it’s “We’ll move forward” or “We’ll do something else”.’ In coming weeks, plans will be submitted to expand Doonbeg to include a ballroom – which will serve as a conference centre as well as a leisure centre – and a revised housing masterplan.
But he warns the development, which is estimated to cost €30m to €40m, is ‘impingent on us protecting the asset’ from coastal erosion, which is now subject to a High Court challenge. ‘If we don’t protect that dune face, the golf course, these buildings, eventually… that would be a shame. There are 300 people on the payroll here and all the ancillary businesses. The impact would be a ripple effect on people.’
Doonbeg, with a population of just 262 in the 2016 Census, is typical of rural communities along the west coast, struggling to keep their village alive, their families together and emigration at bay.
The list of signatures on a petition in Rita McInerney’s shop, to prevent the closure of the post office on September 27, is gathering strength. A pragmatic businesswoman, the Fianna Fáil member recognises the Trump brand will attract some and discourage others, but a huge swathe of people remain indifferent.
‘They sell the west Clare story, the beautiful beach, the gorgeous hinterland, the great golf club, the local people, the pubs,’ she said. While she has concerns about his policies, she notes that ‘communities are hard won’ but it is not a case of development at any cost.
Protesting politicians should get ‘our own house in order’. Her father, Murt, 85, wishes Trump would stay off Twitter, but notes: ‘The cat purrs to please himself. Where would west Clare be without the hotel?’
It’s a view echoed by publican Tommy Tubridy, a relative of Ryan, who has old photos of John and
Bobby Kennedy on the wall. Mr Tubridy said the hotel allows his three children to stay in the area.
‘Only for the hotel, they wouldn’t be around,’ he says wistfully. ‘We’ll have a big welcome for him. I know he doesn’t drink, but we would put his initials on his pint. I am a businessman, and I just concentrate on what he is doing here for us.’
Outside the hotel gates, five American tourists pose for pictures in front of the Trump sign.
One man pulls down his trousers and sticks out his bottom. ‘We’re on an apology tour,’ says the Washingtonian. His friend, Meg McNulty, from near Philadelphia, says she wouldn’t stay in the hotel out of protest or even visit. She says: ‘He knows how to run a golf club, but not a country. And it’s embarrassing to say he runs our country.’