US President Donald Trump has expressed his desire for Ireland to be re-united with Northern Ireland during his trip to Dublin on Saturday.
During a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Trump noted his belief that the Irish reunification will take place in the future and is a positive development. He also confirmed that the United Kingdom will have a voice in this.
Trump later commented that a united Ireland was “a very cool thing”, but “there’s no good answer” to the “question” of Irish unity.
His remarks follow British Prime Minister Andy Burnham saying that there was no current consideration of another referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status. Burnham’s office indicated on Saturday that his status remained the same. He has stated that a referendum will not occur unless the public opinion changes sufficiently to warrant such a referendum.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement allows for a referendum to be held on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status when the British government believes there is enough support for such a referendum. The deal came after decades of fighting between Irish nationalists demanding their country’s unity and unionists who wished Northern Ireland to stay a part of the United Kingdom.
Trump’s remarks drew an angry response from Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Northern Ireland’s constitutional future should be up to the people of Northern Ireland and not politicians in London, Dublin or Washington, Robinson said.
Nationalist fans of Ireland were more cautious. One of the SDLP’s supporters in Belfast described Trump’s remarks as being “mostly about headlines”.
During his stop, Trump also had a meeting with President of Ireland Catherine Connolly. Connolly, who has been vocal about war and US policies in the Middle East, stated that she expressed her opposition to the normalisation of war and genocide.
The US president’s remarks coincided with his two-day trip to Ireland which also included a visit to his golf course at Doonbeg, Co Clare, where the Irish Open is playing. During the visit thousands of people marched in an anti-Trump protest in Dublin.
Source: Reuters
