Days after planners conditionally approved Trump’s 12,000-square-foot Doonbeg ballroom in February, Liam Madden appealed, arguing the filing was legally flawed because it omitted helicopter operations tied to the resort.
Two advertised landing sites at the property — one by the hotel and one on the golf course — were not assessed for their ecological effect on the endangered Vertigo angustior snail living in nearby dunes, Madden says.
Friends of the Irish Environment joined the challenge, and planning-law expert Geraint Ellis told the Washington Post the appeal appears to raise issues worthy of closer scrutiny.
The case revives a long-running development fight at Doonbeg, where Madden helped sink a Trump seawall proposal in 2020 even though many of the village’s roughly 300 residents back the ballroom.
Ireland’s appellate board is expected to rule by year-end, while Trump’s separate $900 million White House ballroom is already being built despite a U.S. appeals court calling that project “utterly lawless.”