Updated at 11.50am
DONALD TRUMP’S PLANNED visit to Ireland next week is off.
The Press Tour Director for the Trump campaign, Stephanie Grisham, told New York-based news service Irish Central that the trip would only be to Scotland, without giving a reason for the change.
Irish Central contacted the campaign after the itinerary of the trip was released.
It shows the presumptive Republican nominee for president plans to fly to Prestwick on Thursday next (the day of the Brexit referendum), fly on to Aberdeen two days later, and then home to New York the same day.
Trump announced via Twitter earlier this month that he would stop over in Ireland as part of the visit, after earlier confirming a transatlantic trip to check in on his golf course business interests in Scotland.
TheJournal.ie understands no events were booked for Shannon Airport by the Trump campaign in the weeks after the businessman’s announcement.
The Co Clare airport would be the most likely landing spot for the billionaire’s private jet, if he intended to visit Doonbeg. It was also the scene of a much-publicised visit in 2014, when the Trump family were given a red carpet welcome, complete with traditional singers and a tarmac greeting from finance minister Michael Noonan.
The Trump campaign’s press office has been contacted for comment.
The ‘other’ wall
The New York businessman picked up the Doonbeg resort (since renamed the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland) for a knockdown price of €15 million back in 2014.
During that initial visit he said he planned to “at least double or triple” that investment in years to come, and promised to work closely with environmental authorities on the redevelopment of the Greg Norman-designed course, which was badly damaged in winter storms over recent years.
His efforts to have a sea wall built along the nearby dunes have generated some local and international media attention since then. The deadline for submissions to Clare County Council on the project closed this week, with an analysis showing many local groups are fully behind the plan.
However, there have also been indications Trump’s interest in his Irish investment is waning.
Since his entry to the race for the White House the real estate developer has dismissed the resort as “small potatoes” and said he’s happy for his adult children to run it and “have fun with it”.
An anti-Trump umbrella protest group made up of political parties and campaign groups, including the AAA-PBP, the Greens and the Irish Anti War Movement, have been planning protests in Dublin and Ennis to coincide with the politician’s visit.
Speaking on Today with Sean O’Rourke this morning, AAA-PBP TD Paul Murphy said he had a meeting scheduled later today to discuss the protests, and that he would keep an eye on the status of the mooted visit.
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