The Trump-Pence Irish Connection & a Different Kind of Wall

By Tom Deignan, Contributor
August / September 2016

Donald Trump and Mike Pence have more in common than a desire to win election to the White House in November.

Pence, the governor of Indiana, has strong Irish roots. His grandmother came to the U.S. from Doonbeg, County Clare – which also happens to be the home of a Trump golf resort.

Pence’s grandfather, Richard Michael Cawley, also came to the U.S. from Clare. A native of Tubercurry, Cawley passed through Ellis Island in April of 1923, and became a Chicago bus driver.

Pence most recently visited Ireland in 2013.

Trump’s Doonbeg golf course became a news story back in May when Politico reported that Trump was looking to build a sea wall to protect the golf course from the effects of climate change.  This, even though Trump – like many Republicans – has expressed skepticism about global warming.

“The New York billionaire is applying for permission to erect a coastal protection works to prevent erosion at his seaside golf resort, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland, in County Clare,” Politico noted. “A permit application for the wall, filed by Trump International Golf Links Ireland and reviewed by Politico, explicitly cites global warming and its consequences – increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather this century – as a chief justification for building the structure.” ♦

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