$15m resort comes up Trumps

Seldom has overseas investment in an indigenous gem been met with such a collective frisson of excitement as with the confirmation yesterday that Donald Trump had waved his oversized chequebook in the direction of Doonbeg, Co Clare.

Whatever people may think of Trump’s occasional business excesses, he is the straw that stirs the global golf resort industry. When the Trump Organization sets it crosshairs on a golf course investment, ‘The Donald’ has never been tardy in resourcing it to the full.

Hence the skittish anticipation in west Clare yesterday when staff at the Lodge at Doonbeg, whose numbers rise to 260 in high season, learned of Trump’s purchase and plans for the resort.