- US Vice President Mike Pence was widely criticized for staying at the Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland, this week.
- Critics including Sen. Ted Lieu of California questioned the ethics of the vice president staying at a resort owned by President Donald Trump.
- Lieu tweeted that Pence’s actions were tantamount to “funneling taxpayer money” to Trump.
- Doonbeg is approximately “an hour’s drive plus a 40-minute flight” away from Dublin, where Pence was due to meet with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, according to CNN.
- White House officials confirmed that the visit of Pence’s entourage was paid for by US tax dollars, Reuters reported.
- But the latest fracas involving Pence isn’t the first time the tiny coastal town of Doonbeg has been embroiled in a Trump-related controversy.
- Varadkar was once criticized for lobbying on the US president’s behalf in an effort to block a nearby wind farm.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
As part of his trip to meet with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Pence and his entourage lodged at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland. The hotel did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
The resort is on the opposite side of the country from Dublin, with CNN reporting that the location required Pence to make “an hour’s drive plus a 40-minute flight” to get to his destination.
A Pence representative told Reuters that the president suggested that his second-in-command stay at the resort.
"It wasn't like a 'you must,'" Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, told reporters. "It wasn't like a 'you have to.'"
Short also confirmed that the visit was taxpayer-funded, adding that the vice president paid for the stay of his mother and his sister, who accompanied him.
This isn't the first time Pence has shown a preference for Trump properties. The Daily Beast reported that Pence's political team had poured $224,000 into stays at hotels owned by the president since 2017. But this latest visit has prompted a fresh backlash from Trump critics including Sen. Ted Lieu of California, who tweeted that Pence was "funneling taxpayer money" to the president.
It's also not the first time the president's Irish golf resort has attracted widespread scrutiny.
Here's a look inside Ireland's Trump International Golf Links and Hotel, which has faced questions over its funding and a debacle involving a wind farm:
While the vice president is at the center of this latest controversy, his connection to the small community of Doonbeg in County Clare goes back further than 2019.
Source: The Irish Times
Pence's great-grandmother hailed from Doonbeg, according to the Irish Times.
Source: The Irish Times
The then-Indiana governor and his family visited the coastal town in 2013, about a year before Trump purchased the golf resort.
Source: The Irish Times
The following year, Trump shelled out $29.2 million for the property.
Source: "Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy"
In the book "Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy," the professor and attorney Seth Abramson wrote that the president might have overpaid for the property to the tune of $13.2 million.
Source: "Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy"
Theories have swirled around Trump's foray into Ireland ever since.
Source: Irish Times
The Irish Times reported that Glenn Simpson, the former Wall Street Journal reporter who founded the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, testified under oath that he investigated the rumor that Russian mob money seeded the Doonbeg golf resort.
Source: Irish Times
According to Simpson, financial statements don't explicitly "show Russian involvement."
Source: Irish Times
"What they do show is enormous amounts of capital flowing into these projects from unknown sources ... but it's hundreds of millions of dollars," Simpson said, according to the Irish Times.
Source: Irish Times
One thing that is clear is that Trump's Irish golf course is a money hole.
Source: Irish Times
Abramson also wrote that Trump plunked down $164 million to keep Doonbeg and his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland afloat from 2014 to 2018.
Source: "Proof of Conspiracy: How Trump's International Collusion Is Threatening American Democracy"
The Irish Times reported that the Trump Organization lost 2.2 million euros on the Irish resort in 2016.
Source: Irish Times
The resort's website describes it as a "5 star destination" that caters to "golf enthusiasts, families, and surfers."
Source: Trump Hotels
The lodge has 218 hotel suites and a spa. The Irish Times reported that the operation had a workforce of 300.
Source: The Trump Factor: Unlocking the Secrets Behind the Trump Empire, Irish Times
At Trump's Doonbeg property, guest rooms start at 238 euros a night, or about $260.
Source: Trump Hotels
The most expensive "signature suite" that Business Insider found on the hotel's website cost 922 euros a night.
Source: Trump Hotels
Guests have a handful of Trump-owned dining options within the hotel, including afternoon tea, room service, Trump's Bar and Restaurant, and the Oceanview Restaurant.
Source: The Trump Factor: Unlocking the Secrets Behind the Trump Empire, Trump Hotels
The resort's focal point is its 18-hole golf course along the Atlantic Ocean.
Source: Trump Hotels
The Australian golf pro and course designer Greg Norman was the creative force behind the original golf course at Doonbeg, which opened in 2002.
Source: "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump," "The Trump Factor: Unlocking the Secrets Behind the Trump Empire"
Norman reportedly built the course "by-hand," meaning with minimal interference to the area's natural landscape.
Source: "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump"
According to "Commander in Cheat," a book by the sportswriter Rick Reilly, Trump redid the course after purchasing the land.
Source: "Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump"
To protect from climate-change-induced erosion, the resort petitioned in 2017 to erect seawalls. Trump has consistently disputed the scientific consensus that humans influence climate change.
Source: Business Insider, New York Times
Suspicions around funding and Pence's recent stay aren't the only political scuffles the Doonbeg estate has been caught up in.
Source: BBC
In 2018, Trump described lobbying Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to block the construction of renewable-energy turbines.
Source: "Leo: A Very Modern Taoiseach"
Trump reportedly feared that the turbines would hurt his business at Doonbeg, according to Varadkar's recounting of the interaction.
Source: "Leo: A Very Modern Taoiseach"
The taoiseach said he reached out to Ireland's state tourism agency relaying Trump's concerns.
Source: "Leo: A Very Modern Taoiseach"
The wind farm wasn't built, but Varadkar said the request to build the structures along the coast "would have been refused anyway."
Source: "Leo: A Very Modern Taoiseach"