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By Rachael O'Connor
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Donald Trump's planned expansion of his Irish hotel and golf resort has been derailed, thanks to the presence of a rare snail in the area—and the charity behind it has a message for him.
The U.S. president owns Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, County Clare, in the west of Ireland. The hotel put in a planning application for an expansion that would include upgrades to the golf course as well as a ballroom. Newsweek has approached The Trump Organization for comment and has not received a reply.
However, the plans have been derailed after environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) objected, arguing the development could affect the well-being of a rare snail in the area.
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The snail, Vertigo angustior, is a protected species, and it isn't the first time the creature has affected building works in the area.
In 2000, a High Court order agreed a compromise whereby any development at the Doonbeg resort would be "bound by the objective of maintaining favorable conservation status" of the snail. But a new report has found that the snail species has gone into "terminal decline," and the FIE argues that no new permissions should be granted until its status has improved.
FIE director Tony Lowes said in a press release that "the developer simply states that the Ballroom, drainage, lagoons and site changes will have ‘no adverse effect’ on the snail population. But that is not what is required."
"What is required is that the developer ensure that the favorable conservation status documented in 2000 is maintained or improved," Lowes said. "Until and unless he meets this condition, no further planning permission can legally be issued by the planning authority."
The hotel was opened in 2002, and bought in 2014 by Trump, when it was rebranded as the Trump International Golf Links.
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And, speaking to Newsweek, Lowes had a message for the president. "Donald Trump called me in 2014 when he bought the golf course, because he was concerned about a wind farm that might be seen from his new property," Lowes said.
"We were also concerned, but for failures in construction plans, not wind energy. While we refused his help, he told me then that he was a friend of the environment and would defend the snail. Hey, Donald—remember that call?"
He claimed that their court-approved national expert had overseen the snail's welfare for 15 years, and the population had thrived in the area, but that expert was "fired by Trump in 2014," and "something went wrong."
Lowes said: "By 2019, the current planning application says the snail went into decline, and is now in their words in ‘terminal decline’. We need the experts to look at why—drainage, grazing levels, disturbance, pollution—something has gone wrong."
Online chatter on the unusual story has gone viral in recent days, with Threads user @leahmdelaney sharing the story, and writing in a now-viral post: "I am firmly on the snail's side."
"Power to the snail," one commenter wrote, as another posted: "I stand with Irish snails."
"That is freakin' hilarious," a third said. "Now he hates snails along with windmills."
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Trump has frequently criticized wind turbines, and has campaigned on expanding fossil fuels while pausing federal wind permits and ending tax credits that had supported renewable developments in the United States.
In September, he posted on Truth Social, saying: "Any Country that relies on Windmills is DEAD."
He added: "Windmills aren't only killing the birds, they're 'killing' lots of bad politicians who are losing their jobs because of them."
The snail in question, also known as the narrow-mouthed whorl snail, is widely but locally distributed in Central Europe, but is considered threatened in most countries, according to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
The snail is found in wet meadows, coastal marshes, dune slacks and maritime turf, and, due to its specific microhabitat requirements, is often restricted to a zone only a few meters wide around wetlands.
Lowes told Newsweek: "Every single species…supports others, just as a short-lived snail like Vertigo angustior provides its shell to the seabirds for vital calcium. And we are only now finding the value of even snail species to provide, in one case, medical alleviation to pain, obtained no other way, for terminal patients."
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