Donald Trump has triggered a major diplomatic row after claiming he would “love” to see a united Ireland.
The US president claimed Irish reunification was inevitable, adding it “may as well happen now”, during a visit to Dublin on Saturday.
Speaking while sitting alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the US president said: “Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified.
“I have friends on both sides, great people. They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right?
“I’d love to see it unified. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.
“You know what? The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.
“We’re talking about it and you got the right man over here to get it moving.
“But, yeah, I think it would be a fantastic thing.
“Now 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?”
His comments brought a stern rebuke from the Conservatives in the UK, while Downing Street pointed to Andy Burnham’s rejection of an immediate border poll earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people marched through Dublin to show their opposition to the US president. Participants carried banners and flags, and chanted “Donald Trump, can you hear? We don’t want you here.”
The US president received a rapturous reception while at his golf course in Doonbeg, Co Clare. As he made a brief appearance in the members’ bar of the hotel at the golf resort, punters cheered and chanted: “USA” and sang songs as Mr Trump filed through the bar on Saturday night.
But three women appeared at a special sitting of Ennis District Court on Saturday evening charged with offences allegedly committed at the golf course.
On Friday evening, a woman in her twenties was arrested for trespassing on the golf links. On Saturday, a woman in her thirties and one in her forties were arrested for public order offences at the site.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr Trump is “shooting from the hip as usual” and creating “unnecessary tension” following his comments on a united Ireland.
“This sort of loose talk about the future of democratic countries is deeply unhelpful and creates unnecessary tension. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom,” she wrote in a post on X.
The shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland also said Mr Trump’s comments were “very wrong”.
Conservative MP Alex Burghart said: “Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom. Kemi and the Conservatives will always stand up for the Union.
“We will build a stronger economy in every corner of the United Kingdom, creating jobs and opportunities and clearing up Labour’s mess.”
Unionist leaders in Northern Ireland have also criticised Mr Trump’s comments.
Northern Ireland’s health minister, Robbie Butler from the Ulster Unionist Party, said in a post on X: “Presidents are entitled to their views. But they don’t get a vote in Northern Ireland.”
Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said Mr Trump “is not the first US president to meddle in the affairs which don’t concern him”.
He added: “Northern Ireland is not a pawn in Mr Trump’s fall-out with the UK. Our constitutional future does not depend on him or any other foreign dignitary.”
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Northern Ireland’s future would be decided by its people, not “commentary in London, Dublin or Washington”.
He added: “As unionists, we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the president’s comments were “timely” and Mr Martin “must now begin planning for a united Ireland”.
The UK-Ireland border remains a sensitive issue, with Mr Burnham triggering a political row earlier in the year after saying a referendum on reunification was “off the table”.
Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the UK’s Northern Ireland secretary can decide to hold a border poll, and has a duty to call one if it appears likely a majority would vote for Irish unification.
The people of the Republic of Ireland must also vote in favour to effect constitutional change.
Mr Trump’s comments are likely to further strain relations between the US and the UK, with the US president also casting doubt on Britain’s ability to defend the Falkland Islands during the visit.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, he said he expects to be called upon to “settle” any potential conflict in the ongoing row between the UK and Argentina on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
He suggested the UK would not “be willing to travel that far” if there was an invasion similar to the one in 1982, explaining it would take the UK “weeks by boat” to get there.
His comments came at the start of a two-day visit to Ireland, during which he will meet political figures and watch the Irish Open golf tournament at his resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare.
On Saturday morning, he met with Irish president Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin’s Phoenix Park before meeting Mr Martin at Farmleigh House.
Mr Trump said America’s relationship with Ireland had “never been as good as it is right now” while Mr Martin praised the “sporting relationship” between their two countries.
In her own meeting with Mr Trump, Ms Connolly said she had “conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted”.
The visit has also seen significant protests on the streets of Dublin, sparking what has been described as one of the biggest security operations ever implemented by the Irish police service.
Garda commissioner Justin Kelly said peaceful protest would be facilitated as much as possible, but there would be “no tolerance” for public disorder or attempts to impact “critical movements” of the US president.
