“The Smurfit company got the tax breaks and made a lot of money on property sales before [hosting] the Ryder Cup [in 2006]. The Smurfit group did very well out of the K Club thank you very much. He had his own aerodrome near the K Club, which I sold him as part of the Lyons estate. I paid a lot of tax when I sold the K Club even though it was loss making. Before he became president I wrote to him and asked him for my 80th birthday ‘would you invite me to the White House.

Source: The Irish Times May 29, 2020 03:56 UTC