The Donald Trump-owned Trump Doonbeg resort in Co Clare was paid over €100,000 to feed gardaí on duty across west Clare to protect the US president during his two-night visit in June.
The total bill for accommodation and food for the Garda operation throughout Co Clare for the visit came to €904,553, according to replies to a Freedom of Information request.
The largest share of the €359,579 spent on catering went to Doonbeg, which got €107,000. The rest was shared by 10 other companies. Another €6,000 was paid for hotel bills for gardaí stationed at Doonbeg itself during the visit
In total 23 accommodation providers – mainly Clare hotels – were paid €544,983 to accommodate gardaí during Trump’s visit to Doonbeg, his first as president but his seventh since he bought it in 2014.
The largest single accommodation bill was paid to the University of Limerick-owned student accommodation company Plassey Trust Company, which was paid €216,601.
Illustrating the scale of the security operation, 3,820 gardaí were on overtime during the visit – around 27 per cent of the overall 14,251 strength of the Garda – at a cost of €7.489 million.
A Garda spokesman said on Friday that the total Garda spend for the Trump visit at August 31st stood at €11.3 million.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris disclosed on Thursday that the spend by the force in connection with the President Trump and vice-president Mike Pence visits was in the order of €15 million to €18 million.
The top earning Garda member from the Trump operation received €12,915 in overtime payments, and was followed by colleagues who received €11,093 and €10,608 in overtime.
A number of bus operators were deployed to transport gardaí, and the figures show that Bus Éireann was paid €169,650; Scales Bus Tours Ltd was paid €145,800, while Mike Hynan Coach Services receiving €46,000.
