{"id":624260,"date":"2026-08-06T21:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/624260\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T21:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T21:43:17","slug":"gavan-reilly-there-are-e2bn-reasons-to-welcome-trump-back-to-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/624260\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavan Reilly: There are \u20ac2bn reasons to welcome Trump back to Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Gavan Reilly<\/p>\n

Politics by Numbers is a new series for The Journal where broadcaster, author and spreadsheet stan Gavan Reilly takes a data deep dive into a political point of the week.<\/p>\n

AS IF THE European presidency and all of the related security complications weren\u2019t enough, here comes the President of the United States.<\/p>\n

Not that Donald Trump will see much of Ireland \u2013 or that much of Ireland will see him.<\/p>\n

By all accounts, Trump\u2019s forthcoming visit might last for as little as 36 hours, arriving early on Saturday morning and possibly jetting away again at teatime on Sunday.
If that plan is what finally emerges, barely four of those hours will be spent in Dublin. The rest will be at Doonbeg.<\/p>\n

The Irish Open, for its illustrious proprietor, is a priceless opportunity to showcase his golf resort \u2013 and, simply by virtue of his presence, will attract far more attention to the Irish Open than it would otherwise receive.<\/p>\n

Attention economy<\/p>\n

Trump is a master of the attention economy. Aside from the occasional fairytale \u2013 like last year, when Rory McIlroy audaciously claimed victory in a playoff, merely weeks after his career-Slam heroics at Augusta \u2013 the Irish Open has struggled in recent years to command the attention many Irish golf fans would like.<\/p>\n

A relatively off-Broadway DP World Tour event might struggle to get a mention on ESPN\u2019s Sunday night SportsCenter, particularly on an NFL Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"doonbeg-golf-course-ireland\"
\n Trump’s Doonbeg hotel will play host to the Irish Open next month. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

But bring Donald Trump to the 18th green to present the winner\u2019s trophy, and it\u2019s a different story: his presence muscles its way into any bulletin and closer to the top of any TV running order.<\/p>\n

The visit is thus less a diplomatic mission than it is a marketing minibreak. As with last year\u2019s trip to his Turnberry course in Scotland, the pesky work merely gets in the way: last year during a trip to his course in Turnberry, Ursula von der Leyen jetted over to secure an objectively humiliating trade \u201cagreement\u201d with a 15% tariff levied on most European exports to the United States, and a 0% rate on American produce coming the other way.<\/p>\n

This year, instead of striking a major deal with the most influential player in Brussels, he\u2019ll likely make a courtesy call to \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in to meet a counterpart who has made little secret of her dislike for him, before sitting down with a pragmatic Taoiseach \u2013 possibly in Farmleigh, rather than bringing a security ring of steel to Dublin\u2019s city centre \u2013 under pressure from more idealistic voices to take a tougher line.<\/p>\n

\"president-donald-j-trump-participates-in-a-bilateral-meeting-with-taoiseach-of-ireland-micheal-martin-in-the-oval-office-tuesday-march-17-2026-official-white-house-photo-by-daniel-torok\"
\n Trump is likely to meet Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin at Farmleigh. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

But all of that will be of little concern to the visitor. His bigger motivation is likely to be in harvesting the indirect adulation of his course being given the right to host a European tour event (unlike on the doomed Saudi-owned LIV Tour, where the balance between commerce and prestige is different) and bringing further eyeballs at an opportune time.<\/p>\n

If you visited Trump\u2019s resort website last night, you could have booked a round of golf this morning for the handsome sum of \u20ac550 \u2014 albeit with only a handful of tee times still available, most having long since been snapped up. Your best value would have been to wait until after 5 pm, pay the comparatively modest \u20ac255, and hope the fading light held out long enough to finish your 18 holes.<\/p>\n

\"irish-president-catherine-connolly-during-a-visit-to-leeds-university-as-part-of-her-official-visit-to-the-uk-picture-date-wednesday-may-20-2026\"
\n Catherine Connolly, a long-time critic of Trump, is expected to meet with him as Ireland’s president next month. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

But check the first Thursday of next August, and there\u2019s no evening discount: even a 6 pm tee time will set you back \u20ac550. By comparison, three years ago, golf bloggers recorded the most expensive round in Doonbeg as \u20ac375.<\/p>\n

That inflation is hardly any surprise: that\u2019s approaching the exact time that Ireland will be at the centre of the golfing universe, when Adare Manor hosts the 2027 Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n

And Doonbeg, to be fair, is far from the only course that\u2019s riding that commercial wave. Adare Manor itself charges a similar \u20ac550 for a round this summer, plus another \u20ac120 per player for the services of a mandatory elite caddie for guidance. That\u2019s not quite as inflationary as its counterpart across the Shannon: in 2019 the comparable green fee was \u20ac450.<\/p>\n

\"jul-21-2019-winner-shane-lowry-holds-the-open-trophy-after-finishing-the-final-round-of-the-open-championship-golf-tournament-at-royal-portrush-golf-club-dunluce-course-portrush-northern-ireland\"
\n Irish golfer Shane Lowry holds the Open trophy in 2019. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

Lahinch Golf Club, which charged \u20ac275 for its most expensive round in the summer of 2023, now asks \u20ac450 for a game at its old course. The Old Head links in Kinsale, previously quoting \u20ac395, also now asks \u20ac550 at peak season. Royal Portrush in Co Down, which charged \u00a3295 (\u20ac340) in green fees when it hosted Shane Lowry\u2019s epochal win in the 2019 Open, charges \u00a3420 (\u20ac490) a head in the wake of Scottie Scheffler\u2019s 2025 win at the same venue.<\/p>\n

All hail the almighty dollar<\/p>\n

When visitors are routinely dropping money of that quantity \u2013 and remember, many high-spending North American tourists will plan entire weeks playing high-end courses on a daily basis \u2013 you suddenly understand why there is an urgent desire to spend six months and \u20ac3 million building a temporary train station for a few days of visitors to Adare.<\/p>\n

While tourism remains one of Ireland\u2019s biggest industries \u2013 so much so that responsibility for it within Government was moved to the Department of Enterprise last year \u2013 it is a sector that could use a boost. Visits from North America in June of this year were 7% lower than the same month in 2025, but they spent more than their fair share: while making up just 27% of the numbers, they accounted for 39% of the spending.<\/p>\n

\"ireland-county-cork-blarney-castle-visitors-at-kissing-the-blarney-stone-ceremony\"
\n Economically speaking, if we want tourists to come to Ireland to kiss that Blarney Stone, then welcoming Trump is a no-brainer. Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Alamy Stock Photo\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to be sniffed at. The amount spent in Ireland by overseas visitors has fallen in recent years; our reputation as a \u2018premium\u2019 holiday destination, with high costs for high-quality produce and experiences, means Ireland has quietly priced itself out of many markets. International spending in Ireland in 2024 was estimated at \u20ac6.6 billion; last year it was down to about \u20ac5.6 billion. Again, however, it was visitors from North America who spent the most, averaging \u20ac1.282 per head, contributing almost \u20ac2 billion to the overall spend.<\/p>\n

While there might well be an ulterior commercial motive to Donald Trump\u2019s visit \u2013 and that would hardly be a surprise, given how his family wealth has rocketed in his second term of office \u2013 there is equally an ulterior commercial motive for Ireland to welcome him. The fleeting attention his visit will bring to Ireland can only be a helpful thing for the tourist trade that has been slowly suffocated by Ireland\u2019s high cost of living.<\/p>\n

Diplomatically, debate will (rightly) continue about the merits of welcoming Donald Trump to Ireland, but commercially, a welcome is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

Gavan Reilly is the Political Correspondent for Virgin Media News and the host of Monday with Gavan Reilly, which airs every Monday at 10 pm on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gavan Reilly Politics by Numbers is a new series for The Journal where broadcaster, author and spreadsheet stan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,3809,18,13,14,127272,6,19,17,7335,11,12,4008,15,16,5,4766,2336,219987,7,8,2855],"class_list":["post-624260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-column","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-global-politics","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-leinster-house","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-oireachtas","tag-opinion","tag-politics-by-numbers","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-voices"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117050751368103756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}