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AS CLARE PREPARES for a visit of US President Donald Trump in September, American officials are struggling to find enough hotels for the presidential entourage, The Journal has learned.

Plans can change with a US Presidential visit but at the moment it is understood that the Trump circus is anticipated to arrive into Dublin on 12 September and spend a short few hours in the city meeting dignitaries and the US ambassador Edward Walsh.

It is believed that he may visit President Catherine Connolly, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and could also call to the new US Embassy site in Ballsbridge.

That evening it is anticipated he will get back on Air Force One and fly to Shannon Airport where he will then travel by helicopter to his International Golf Links resort in Doonbeg which is due to host the Irish Open Golf tournament.

We spoke to a number of sources across multiple agencies who told us that there is a significant shortage of hotel rooms in the region, which is posing a challenge to making arrangements. The Trump entourage could be as big as 1,000 people and this will include a US security team that could be as many as 200 Secret Service officers.

There will be drivers, caterers helicopter pilots, military and government assistants and other aides.

The visiting delegation are competing for space with the 75,000 golf fans estimated to buy tickets for the event over the week, on top of the normal tourism trade across Clare and the broader region in September.

The Journal went looking at the availability of hotel rooms in the Mid-West over the period 10-13 September and found that most hotels were full and the rooms that were available were in excess of €800. 

It is not just US officials who need a room – the gardaí involved will also have to be housed. For the past visits of Trump and Mike Pence, they were housed in student accommodation, but that won’t be available this time.

Sources have said planning efforts are focused on putting a lot of people north towards Galway and then bussing them to the venue.

The Trump visit has been in the planning for some months with gardaí in Ennis in charge of the policing plan. It is understood that the event will require many gardaí to be deployed to Shannon Airport and across Clare.

It is understood that gardaí had feared the US President would make two stops – first to play a round of golf earlier in the week. It was thought that he would return to the US for the 11 September commemoration and then return to Clare for the end of the tournament.

That now is not going to happen according to sources, and it will be a whistle-stop tour for the golf-mad President.

This is not the first time Trump has visited Doonbeg and there have been similar security operations in the past.

It is understood that the staffing requirements are large in scale because the policing operation does not have to secure a single location but multiple ones, including miles of coastline along the Atlantic shoreline, sand dunes and open ground across the golf course.

During the last operation, a large number of gardaí were deployed to maintain a presence on the sandy beach.

The Irish Defence Forces will also be involved in securing the airspace from drones, and a naval ship will be involved off the beach.

The visit of the US President is likely to cause some to protest for a variety of reasons which will necessitate a large-scale public order.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign said that it will protest against the US support for the Israeli campaign in Gaza.

The campaigners said that a Dublin protest, on Saturday 12 September, is being organised by a coalition of demonstration groups.

These include the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Irish Neutrality League, 80:20, Praxis the Artists’ Union and United Against Racism.

Another protest in Clare on 13 September is being organised locally. We tried to contact the Shannon Watch group, but they have not responded.

With reporting from Jane Matthews. 

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