The US president has caught flak from the leader of a major unionist party who said Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK<\/p>\n
The Republic of Ireland and the UK\u2019s Northern Ireland will eventually be reunified, US President Donald Trump has predicted.
\nThe Republic of Ireland gained independence from Britain in 1922, while six northeastern counties remained part of the UK as Northern Ireland.
\nSpeaking to reporters after a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin on Saturday, Trump said that he would \u201clove to see [Ireland] unified.\u201d
\n\u201cI think it would be a great feather\u2026 in everybody\u2019s cap if that happened. It\u2019s going to happen eventually. Might as well happen now,\u201d the US president added, suggesting that Martin is the \u201cright man\u2026 to get it moving.\u201d
\nWhile Trump acknowledged that the \u201cUK will have something to say about it, obviously,\u201d he insisted that a reunified Ireland \u201cwould be a great thing.\u201d
\nTrump also said he and the Irish prime minister are \u201cfriends\u201d and described relations between Washington and Dublin as being better than ever before.
\nSpeaking at the US ambassador\u2019s residence later in the day, Trump acknowledged that his remarks could prove controversial, conceding that \u201cit\u2019s one of those questions where no matter what you say, there\u2019s no good answer.\u201d
\nEarlier this year, Trump similarly suggested that there should be a \u201cmerger\u201d between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, citing what he described as a good rapport between Martin and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Emma Little-Pengelly.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump christens \u2018Lake America\u2019 amid trade war with Canada<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s predecessors in the White House supported the status quo that was established by the US-brokered 1998 Belfast Agreement, also known as the Good Friday Agreement. The accord largely ended roughly three decades of political violence in Northern Ireland between the Irish Republican Army and several other smaller groups, which sought reunification with Ireland, loyalist groups that wanted the region to remain part of the UK, and British security forces.
\nThe agreement explicitly provides a path to Irish reunification should a majority in Northern Ireland express support for it. This would require the secretary of state for Northern Ireland to call for a referendum on the issue.
\nIn a post on X on Saturday, Gavin Robinson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, decried Trump\u2019s latest remarks.
\n\u201cPresident Trump knows better than most that elections matter\u2026 Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom because that is the settled democratic will of its people,\u201d the politician wrote.
\nHe expressed confidence that Northern Ireland \u201cwill continue to choose the UK and the security it offers.\u201d
\nSpeaking during his first visit to Northern Ireland last month, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham likewise stated that a referendum on Irish reunification was \u201coff the table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has caught flak from the leader of a major unionist party who said Northern Ireland will remain part of the UK The Republic of Ireland and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t