DUBLIN — Donald Trump has won permission to build a ballroom at his golf resort in Ireland — but only if he can protect the tiny snails that live next door.
Tuesday’s planning approval from Clare County Council clears the way for the U.S. president to build a 320-seat ballroom beside his Doonbeg hotel and golf club on Ireland’s Atlantic coast.
The decision and its timing carry particular weight for Ireland’s government, which enjoys exceptional access to the White House each St. Patrick’s Day — an annual opportunity that, in the age of Trump, has become a political minefield.
When Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited Trump last year, the U.S. leader complained of the difficulty of building anything at his Irish resort — a problem he mistakenly attributed to Brussels, not Dublin.
