*Photograph: Arthur Ellis.
DISCUSSIONS HAVE commenced within the Trump organisation on the renaming of the Doonbeg five star resort.
During a whistlestop tour of West Clare across two days last week, former US President, Donald Trump announced the property was to be renamed. Acquired by the Trump family in 2014, it is currently called Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Doonbeg Ireland.
Speaking following a round of golf in Doonbeg on Thursday, Trump said it was to be renamed Trump Doonbeg on the Ocean. “We have the ocean and nobody else does,” he remarked of the rationale behind the move.
As part of the rebranding, the Trump name will remain on the property, the seventy six year old confirmed. “It’s not a new name, but we’re adding the word ‘Ocean’. Because I said to myself, ‘it’s on the ocean, if it’s on the ocean, we call it Doonbeg on the Ocean, we have the ocean, and nobody else does, so that’s what we’re calling it”.
It is unclear but unlikely that Trump’s announcement had been discussed with Doonbeg based management in advance.
The Clare Echo understands that discussions have now commenced with the Trump Organisation headquartered in New York City.
Trump remained confident he would defeat sitting US President, Joe Biden in the next election. “I could win it three times,” he commented while wearing a a Make America Great Again (Maga) cap.
Donald was accompanied by his son Eric as well as members of the US secret service as he departed in a golf buggy.
His visit was cut short as he had to return to New York City for a civil rape case where jurors decided Trump sexually abused magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar.
The nine-member jury in Manhattan federal court awarded about $5m in compensatory and punitive damages. The jury deliberated for just under three hours. It rejected Mr Trump’s denial that he assaulted Ms Carroll and ruled in her favour. To find him liable, the jury of six men and three women was required to reach a unanimous verdict.
