US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would “love” to see a united Ireland and that unification “may as well happen now,” a remark that drew swift rebuttal from the UK government and Northern Ireland’s unionist leaders.
Speaking at a joint press conference alongside Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin, Trump said: “I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified. It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.” The unification of Northern Ireland with the republic would be “fantastic”, Trump said. “The UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?”
Martin declined to respond to reporters’ questions about the president’s comments. Trump himself acknowledged later on Saturday that the remarks would prove controversial. “No matter what you say or how you say it, there’s no good answer,” he said. Unification, he added, would be a “very cool thing.”
The intervention came two weeks after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the UK was “off the table.” A Downing Street spokesperson said his position had not changed, restating that there was not the level of support required to trigger a poll under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which can be held only at the discretion of the British government.
Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, said Northern Ireland’s constitutional future would be decided by its people, “not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.” He said the region remained part of the UK because that was “the settled democratic will of its people.” The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, called the president’s words “loose talk” that created “unnecessary tension.” Not all reaction was hostile: Colum Eastwood, a former SDLP leader and frequent Trump critic, posted a clip of the remarks and wrote, “Always liked him.”
The visit included a courtesy call to the official residence and workplace of Irish President Catherine Connolly, and a separate meeting with Martin at Phoenix Park. Trump flew to his resort in Doonbeg, County Clare. Thousands of protesters marched through central Dublin and held a rally outside parliament. Asked about the demonstrations, Trump said he had not seen any.