Flash: Trump says united Ireland will happen
Posted by Jim on September 12, 2026
IRISH REPUBLICAN NEWS:
Published: Saturday, September 12, 2026
Flash: Trump says united Ireland will happen
US President Donald Trump has said he would “love to see” a united Ireland and predicted that reunification is “going to happen eventually”, putting the issue directly into the centre of his visit to Ireland.
Speaking at Farmleigh House, the official Irish State Guest House, alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Trump said: “I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see [Ireland] unified.”
“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,” he added.
“The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It will happen.”
He said Martin was “the right man over here to get it moving” and acknowledged that London “will have something to say about it, obviously”, before asking: “How could it be bad?”
Trump later joked about the response his comments would provoke.
“They ask me a question, ‘what do you think about unification of northern Ireland and Ireland?’ I said, Oh, that’s a nice question. I gave a nice answer. I think we’ll read about it tomorrow.”
He added: “That’s one of those questions where, no matter what you say, no matter how well you say it, there’s no good answer, right?
“But I actually said it would be, I think, a very cool thing. To be honest with you, I think it would be cool.”
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Trump’s comments reflected a wider shift in the discussion around Irish unity and placed responsibility on the Taoiseach to begin preparing for constitutional change.
“I acknowledge President Trump’s comments on the reunification of Ireland. The conversation on Irish unity has shifted, and the onus is on the Taoiseach to begin planning.
“We have secured peace, and as we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement our national journey is now reunification, which is organised, planned and a peaceful transition.”
Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny also welcomed Trump’s comments, saying: “Hopefully, he will now take this opportunity and indeed, many other opportunities.
“Because, as I say, the weight of history is in the direction of Irish unity.
“And it’s about having the conversation as to what that will look like and putting the infrastructure in place to ensure that we can have a positive transition toward a united Ireland.
‘It’s something that people, as I say, have for long wanted to see happen. And now is an opportunity to grasp that and to run with it.”
Unionist politicians dismissed Trump’s remarks, while the Taoiseach declined to comment further.
A Downing Street spokesperson said British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s view unchanged, and remains that “there is no majority public support for another referendum, and until that changes, there will not be one”.