‘People will love what we do’

The sense of excitement at Shannon Airport early yesterday was palpable long before Donald Trump’s Boeing 757 descended through the dark rain clouds cloaking Clare.

And when the American billionaire set foot on Irish soil for the first time to be greeted by a harpist and a group singing gentle Irish airs, the launch of one of the biggest golf developments in this country was officially under way.

Donald Trump (67) not only forked out what he believes to be a trifling sum of €15m to buy the Doonbeg complex (now known as the Trump International Golf Links Ireland) on the edge of the Atlantic but is now intent on spending much more on redeveloping it into a world-acclaimed piece of golfing real estate.