Trumpland’s Irish outpost in the village of Doonbeg in County Clare is an economic lifeline for locals

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Protests and controversy await Donald Trump when he flies into Ireland on Wednesday, but there is at least one corner of the country preparing a heartfelt welcome.

The village of Doonbeg in County Clare has erected US flags and plans to give a mighty cheer if the presidential cavalcade swooshes past.

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Trump, after all, is making Doonbeg great again. The village, population 262, abuts the US president’s 400-acre hotel and golf resort, an opulent visitor magnet sprayed by Atlantic ocean waves.

“The people are 99.9% behind him,” said Fr Joe Haugh, the parish priest. “There’s no one else doing for us what he’s doing.”

For locals it is an economic lifeline, a source of jobs, investment and hope. Without Trump, they say, the village and surrounding communities would wither.

“He’s the biggest employer in west Clare,” said Martin Kelly, 48, a trucking company owner who receives business from the resort. “He has done a brilliant job. He’s keeping west Clare going. Doonbeg would be a different place if he wasn’t here.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Martin Kelly, a contractor who does work at Trump’s golf resort in Doonbeg. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

The president and his wife, Melania, are due to stay at the resort from 5-7 June following a two-day state visit to the UK filled with Buckingham Palace pomp and D-day commemorations.

Activists have promised big demonstrations against Trump’s policies on the environment, immigration and other issues. Irish activists also plan to mobilise.

Ireland is shaping up to be a haven and potential irritant for the president. He will bypass Dublin and fly into Shannon airport, 40 miles from his resort. After meeting the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar – who in 2014 gave Trump a sympathetic hearing over a windfarm concern – the US president will be free to savour golf, ocean views and the gratitude of locals.

The Trump International Organisation bought the resort, with fairways designed by Greg Norman, in 2014. It has spent €40m, including the purchase price, on expanding and upgrading facilities, which include a spa, restaurants and cottages. Trump has visited six times, calling the resort “terrific” and “incredible”.

Protesters are planning a rally in Dublin and possibly a “peace camp” at Shannon but are expected to steer clear of Doonbeg.

Security will be tight – a no-fly zone, road closures, “sniper towers”, soldiers, police and secret service agents. Police reportedly quizzed workers at Shannon industrial estate asking if they had any “animosity” towards the visitor. “Nobody was declaring any negatives towards Donald Trump,” one employee told the Clare Echo.

Should the president wander around Trumpland’s Irish outpost he will experience psychological balm, for here he is a hero.

“I’m looking forward to it. It would be great to see him,” said Kathleen Whelan, who runs Doonbeg’s grocery shop. “It’s not every day a US president comes here. It’s all good.”

Sean O’Donnell, a local contractor, said he had friends and relatives among the 310 people employed at the resort during summer. “He’s brought jobs and investment, just what we need.” O’Donnell also praised Trump as a straight shooter. “Other politicians lie. He tells it like it is.”

Not everyone would agree with that. The Washington Post has tracked more than 10,000 lies and misleading claims made by the president since taking office.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sean O’Donnell, a Doonbeg resident who welcomes Trump’s visit. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

The casino mogul won the White House partly by promising to save dying rustbelt communities in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Keeping that promise has proved hard – he does not control global economic trends.

But for Doonbeg his wallet is enough. Trump’s resort contributes a “seismic” €8m per annum to the local economy, said an editorial in the Clare Champion newspaper. Without Trump a region that is losing jobs, post offices and population “would be further bereft”, it said.

There is, however, a snag. Storms and rising sea levels are eroding dunes that dot the golf course, damaging fairways and threatening the entire course. Trump executives have applied to build a protective coastal wall – evidence the president will act on climate change when it threatens his business interests.

Clare county council approved a scaled-down plan for 38,000 tonnes of rock to form two barriers of 630 metres and 260 metres in length in front of Doughmore beach. Locals in Doonbeg support the plan, saying it will protect farmland from flooding.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The main building at Trump’s golf resort in Doonbeg. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

But environmental groups have stalled it, saying the flood risk is overstated and that the barriers would harm wildlife and the dune system. An Bord Pleanála, a planning regulator, is expected to rule on the case later this year.

“I am confident … this wall will not go ahead,” said Peter Sweetman, a veteran campaigner who has led opposition to other projects in the west of Ireland.

Tony Lowes, of Friends of the Irish Environment, said the group hoped to deliver to the resort an online petition of 100,000 signatures against the plan. “This proposal threatens the whole evolution of one of our most important dune systems. They have no business messing with it.”

Environmental objections blocked a separate attempt by the resort two years ago to build new facilities. Trump called it “a very unpleasant experience”. Defeat over the sea barriers would tee up another one.