![\"Protesters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/trump-in-ireland-MW6R2AS3LVHA5AEZG7VS6YRP5M.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUS President Donald Trump said a unified Ireland would be \u201cfantastic\u201d as he waded into a complex, politically charged subject during a weekend visit to a tournament at his Irish golf course.<\/p>\n
At a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Miche\u00e1l Martin in Dublin, Trump said he would love to see the reunification of the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to cause any problems, but I\u2019d love to see it unified,” Trump told a reporter who sought his opinion on the issue. “It\u2019s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be a fantastic thing,” the Republican president said, adding that “the UK will have something to say about it, obviously\u201d.<\/p>\n
At his next stop, Trump acknowledged there is \u201cno good answer\u201d to the reunification question as he addressed business leaders from both countries gathered at the US ambassador’s residence.<\/p>\n
The Irish unity debate is heated<\/p>\n
Competing visions of Northern Ireland \u2014 whether Irish or British \u2014 drove decades of violence in the six-county region that has a Protestant majority and has remained part of the UK<\/p>\n
Previous American presidents, including Democrat Joe Biden, who has strong emotional ties to Ireland, have avoided commenting directly on the subject.<\/p>\n
Ireland, long dominated by its bigger neighbor Britain, became a self-governing Catholic-majority country a century ago. Northern Ireland was split between two main communities: nationalists, most of them Catholic, who desired union with the rest of Ireland, and largely Protestant unionists, who wanted to stay British. Tensions eventually exploded in the Troubles involving paramilitary groups on both sides and British troops.<\/p>\n
A 1998 peace accord that the United States was instrumental in negotiating largely ended the violence, but left Northern Ireland\u2019s ultimate status unresolved. That agreement allows for a vote on unification if it appears likely a majority of people would vote for it. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the UK would only consider allowing a referendum \u201cwhen public opinion has changed to the point where the call has to be considered\u201d. Burnham\u2019s office referred back to that comment when asked about Trump\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Trump’s comments, along with recent statements about the Falkland Islands, a small British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that Argentina calls Las Malvinas, could also be viewed as a dig at Britain, given his anger over London’s refusal to be drawn into the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Protesters in Dublin rally against Trump’s presence in Ireland. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Trump also talked about the Falkland Islands<\/p>\n
Trump once more raised the prospect of conflict between the UK and Argentina over the Falklands. Argentina\u2019s President Javier Milei, a Trump ally, has recently restated his country’s claim to the territory of about 3500 people, which is about 480 kilometres east of the southeast coast of Argentina.<\/p>\n
Trump has previously said Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands\u2019 sovereignty. He expressed scepticism that Britain would be able to retake the Falklands as it did after Argentina invaded in 1982.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be called into that potential disaster, but if they do, I\u2019ll probably be able to settle, settle it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A meeting with the Irish president who criticised Trump<\/p>\n
Trump also held talks in Dublin with Irish President Catherine Connolly, a left-wing politician who joined protesters when Trump visited Ireland in 2019 during his first term in office. She is now Ireland’s elected, largely ceremonial head of state. A supporter of the Palestinian cause, Connolly has in the past criticised US policy in the Middle East and called Trump a \u201cbully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connolly said in a statement after the meeting that she conveyed to Trump \u201cthe strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted\u201d. She gave Trump several gifts, among them a collection by the late Irish poet Michael Longley that includes the sonnet \u201cCeasefire\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked about the meeting, Trump first had his protocol chief, Monica Crowley, answer before he was pressed and said it was \u201cvery nice\u201d. \u201cWe discussed a lot of things, quickly,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/trump-in-ireland-6DEUMB6GLRGV5A33DO7GIVCAVI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A view of Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg from Air Force One as it flies over. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Trump’s presence irks some Dubliners<\/p>\n
Police put up a cordon around Dublin\u2019s 700ha Phoenix Park, where Connolly, Martin and US Ambassador Edward Walsh have residences and welcomed Trump.<\/p>\n
A protest march drew thousands to central Dublin. He had left the city and was on the way to his Doonbeg golf course on the country\u2019s Atlantic coast by the time the demonstration began.<\/p>\n
Many in the crowd waved Irish or Palestinian flags and chanted \u201cDonald Trump not welcome here\u201d and \u201cIrish government, shame on you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Paula Butler said she came with a contingent from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre to oppose the American president\u2019s \u201cattitude to women, to refugees, to migrants\u201d.<\/p>\n
She was unimpressed by Trump\u2019s support for Irish unity, a popular cause in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he knows about Irish unity, I\u2019d say I know more on my little finger,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n
Kim Mathis, who moved from Florida to Dublin last year with her partner, said \u201cpart of the reason we moved to Ireland was to get away from Trump and all of his horrific policies\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said dealing with Trump is \u201ca global conundrum\u201d for governments. \u201cIt would be really nice if politicians would just say, \u2018Stay home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump said a unified Ireland would be \u201cfantastic\u201d as he waded into a complex, politically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,43,40,38,41,39,1745,66],"class_list":["post-598985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}