Eamonn Vaughan, the new owner of Morrissey’s bar in Doonbeg, Co Clare is in the throes of erecting marquees to prepare for the Irish Open at the nearby Trump International Golf Links when he pauses to say that the Trump family is “more than welcome” at his pub.
“It might controversial to people not from Doonbeg but there is no real talk in Doonbeg about it,” he says.
The US president is expected to spend time at his Trump International Doonbeg resort during the Irish Open golf event, which begins on Thursday.
“We all know Donald Trump is coming. He has come before when he was president, so there is no one in Doonbeg who’s really into politics or gets involved. We can’t really change what’s happening in the world. All we can do is make sure that everyone who comes to Doonbeg wants to come back again next year and the year after and the year after,” says Vaughan.
The pub hosted the US president’s family during the 2019 visit, with the president’s sons pulling pints behind the bar under previous owner Hugh McNally’s tenure. Morrissey’s also welcomed former US vice president Mike Pence, a cousin of McNally’s, in October that year.
Vaughan says that as things stand, there are no plans to host the Trumps in Morrissey’s this weekend.
He describes the nearby Trump hotel and golf resort as “fantastic”.
“You can’t knock that. It’s huge for the village, it’s huge for west Clare never mind the village. The amount of people it has employed directly and indirectly is phenomenal.”
Vaughan, chief executive of specialist plant hire company Groundshore in Manchester, England did not have his sights set on a career in hospitality until he came home to Doonbeg for Christmas last year.
“I had heard rumours that Morrissey’s might be for sale. I did a deal with Hugh McNally. For me, it more to buy it and continue that legacy more for Morrissey’s than myself.”
The pub was previously leased by a consortium including Dublin-based hospitality entrepreneur Alan Clancy and former rugby,international Conor Murray but was closed for a time before Vaughan reopened it in April.
The business returning to local ownership is “massive”, says Vaughan.
“We have seen that with the customers, they maybe didn’t feel it was local over the period it was leased. Prior to that, it was run by Hugh McNally for 25 years and I think he has done a fierce job and built up a great reputation and brought it back again to where it should be and needs to be and hopefully where it will stay,” he says, adding that McNally has been instrumental in getting Morrissey’s ready to reopen this year.
“Local business is huge. Everyone thinks the golf course business is the real business. Look it’s grand during the summer but during the winter you definitely need the local support.”
However, Vaughan says that “it’s a great year” to buy the pub, which he says dates back to the 1800s.
“People are getting totally carried away because Donald Trump owns the golf club in Doonbeg. Donald Trump has very little to do with what is happening in organising this,” he says.
“This is the Irish Open, it’s not about Donald Trump’s visit. What I would say to them is, look there are loads of newspaper articles criticising Donald Trump but sure look this is not about Donald Trump at all, this is about west Clare and the Irish Open and making it hospitable to people so that they would come back again.”