US PRESIDENT Donald Trump said that he would “love” to see Ireland unified and that “it may as well happen now” as it is “going to happen eventually”.
Trump has weighed in on the question of Irish unity just weeks after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a referendum on the matter was “off the table”.
Speaking while sitting alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Trump appeared to suggest that Martin was the person to help make it happen, but added that the UK Government will “have something to say about it”.
The US president, who is in Dublin as part of his two-day trip to Ireland, 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?”
On Saturday morning, Trump met with Irish President Catherine Connolly and observed the national anthems of both their countries at Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
He will later travel across the country to his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare, which is hosting the Irish Open.
During a visit to Belfast last month, Burnham ruled out putting an Irish border poll to the public.
The Prime Minister said he was there “to listen” but added that “rifts” arising from referendums “take a long time to heal”, referring both to Brexit and the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland can decide to hold a border poll, and also places a duty on the office holder 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.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant has previously said that an Irish border poll is “not top of my list of priorities”.
However, following the meeting, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill said: “The future of Ireland is for the people of this island to decide, and for the people of this island alone.
“It is not the right of any British Prime Minister to deny our people’s right to self-determination.
“Today I met with Andy Burnham and directly challenged his anti-democratic comments on a referendum on Irish unity, which are completely at odds with the Good Friday Agreement.
“The right to a referendum on Irish unity was guaranteed by the Good Friday Agreement, and that Agreement must be honoured.
“I have full belief and confidence in the ability of all the people of our island to take full control of our own future and to build a new and united Ireland.”
Speaking at PMQs on Wednesday, Burnham laid out the conditions for a second Scottish independence referendum after he said that the rules governing when a repeat of the 2014 vote could be held should be “exactly the same” as those for an Irish reunification referendum.
He made the comment when questioned on the Good Friday Agreement by SNP MP Chris Law.
The agreement states that the UK Northern Ireland Secretary “shall” call a referendum on Irish reunification if it looks likely that the people would vote in support.
Burnham responded: “He mentions the Good Friday Agreement, and I will stick to it 100%.
“And I would also remind him on that question of a border poll, it is to be considered by the Northern Ireland Secretary when there is a clear consensus in the country, when public opinion has changed to the point where the call has to be considered.
“I would say exactly the same situation in Scotland.”
Following Burnham's comments at PMQs on Wednesday, John Swinney welcomed the news as he wrote on social media: "To go from 'off limits' to this is an acceptance of the reality that the people of Scotland will decide their own future – not the UK Government.
"For the first time since 2014, a British Prime Minister accepts that majority support for a referendum should mean one takes place."
