Donald Trump said Saturday he would “love to see” a united Ireland, wading into a politically sensitive subject as he embarked on a two-day Irish visit that blurs the lines between his presidency and personal business interests.
After meeting Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, Trump said reunification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland — split for over a century — would be “a fantastic thing”.
“The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now,” he told reporters, adding though that “the UK will have something to say about it, obviously”.
The island of Ireland has been split between the Irish republic in the south and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, since 1921.
Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland that killed about 3,000 people, a referendum can be held if the UK government determines a majority there is likely to favor joining the Republic of Ireland.
The people of the Republic of Ireland would also have to vote in favor for reunification to occur. The United States has previously adopted a position of neutrality on the issue.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham insisted last month that a unity referendum was “off the table”, drawing a sharp response from the pro-unity party Sinn Fein.
“As unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic,” Gavin Robinson, leader of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said on X in response to Trump’s comments. (AFP)
