The Irish company behind the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Co Clare, which the former US president Donald Trump is due to visit on Wednesday, has booked accumulated losses of €16.7 million since it was incorporated in 2014 and has never booked an after-tax profit in its annual accounts.
Mr Trump is coming to Ireland from Scotland, where he has been visiting his golf courses in Aberdeen and Turnberry, ventures that have also been booking significant losses. A separate company behind the Aberdeen golf course had accumulated losses of £16.5 million (€18.72m) at the end of 2021, while the Turnberry golf and hotel venture had accumulated losses of £82.3 million at the end of the same year.
The accounts of the companies associated with the Irish and Scottish ventures are audited by BDO, of O’Connell Street, Limerick. The companies are all ultimately owned by the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, of Florida, a trust established in 2014.
According to a note in the 2021 accounts of Trump International Golf Scotland Club Ltd, the company has a £40.6 million interest-free loan from Mr Trump. He can seek full or partial repayment of the loan if he gives one year’s notice, the accounts state.
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Mr Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald jnr, are the directors of TIGL Ireland Enterprises Ltd, of Doonbeg, as is Joseph Russell, of Ennis, Co Clare. Consolidated accounts filed by the company show that in 2021 the turnover at Doonbeg jumped to €7.1 million, from €3.7 million the previous year, when the Covid restrictions affected business.
However, “administrative expenses” increased to €7.4 million, from €5.7 million the previous year, and this, combined with the depreciation of tangible assets by €2 million during the year, meant the business ended up booking a loss of €1.5 million.
The TIGL group has been the recipient of tens of millions of euro by way of capital contributions over the years, with €20 million being invested in 2015, the year after the Trump organisation bought the Co Clare resort. However, the valuation figures for the Doonbeg land and buildings, and the golf course, in the accounts have been decreasing over the years.
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At the end of 2021 the value in the accounts for land and buildings was €10.6 million, whereas it was €11.8 million in 2018, while the value of the golf course, which was put at €5.4 million in 2018, was given as €4.4 million at the end of 2021.
Mr Trump’s business affairs are famously opaque. A declaration of assets and income released in the US earlier this month shows that he is linked to a huge number of entities, including in Delaware that are the owners of the Irish and Scottish assets, which are in turn owned by the trust in Florida. There has been much speculation over the years as to the extent of Mr Trump’s wealth, with widely varying figures being considered.
