Trump says a unified Ireland would be ‘fantastic’ during Irish visit

What the report says

United States President Donald Trump said during a visit to Dublin that a unified Ireland would be “fantastic,” a comment that drew a cool response from officials in London and renewed attention on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future. Trump made the remarks while sitting beside Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, saying he would “love to see it unified” and suggesting it would eventually happen, though he acknowledged the UK would have a say.

The comments came after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said only days earlier that a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom was not likely because there is not enough public support. A spokesperson for Burnham later said that position had not changed. Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a vote on Irish unity can be called only at the discretion of the British government. The agreement ended the decades-long conflict known as The Troubles.

Martin did not answer reporters’ questions about Trump’s remarks. Gavin Robinson, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, said the region’s future should be decided by its people rather than by leaders in London, Dublin or Washington. Al Jazeera also reported that anti-Trump and anti-war protests took place in Dublin during the visit, with more demonstrations planned in western Ireland near Trump’s golf course in Doonbeg.