Trump calls for Irish reunification - and claims 'it will happen eventually'

Donald Trump said he would "love to see" a reunified Ireland, claiming "it's going to happen eventually".

Speaking to the press during a two-day visit to Ireland, the US president said a unified Ireland would be "a great feather in everyone's cap", before later asking: "How can it be bad?"

Mr Trump had been asked by a reporter for his views on Irish reunification.

"I'd love to see it unified," the president said. "It's going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now."

Referencing the Irish premier, Micheal Martin, who sat beside him ahead of talks at the Farmleigh Estate in Dublin on Saturday morning, Mr Trump added: "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."

He doubled down on his comments while speaking at the US embassy in the city afterwards.

"I actually said it would be, I think, a very cool thing," Trump said. "To be honest with you, I think it would be cool."

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Reacting to the remarks, Ireland's deputy premier Simon Harris said they showed "how much the conversation about a unified island is advancing at home and abroad".

In Westminster, Northern Ireland secretary Sir Chris Bryant shared screenshots of legislation from the Good Friday Agreement as "a quick refresher" of the political settlement existing in the country.

Irish President Catherine Connolly, a long-standing critic of the US president, received Mr Trump at her official residence Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park earlier in the day.

Mr Trump's visit has prompted what has been described as one of the biggest security operations ever put in place by the Irish police service.

During his appearance with Mr Martin, Mr Trump said the relationship between Ireland and the US has "never been as good as it is right now".

He described himself and Mr Martin as "friends", and said they "had a great relationship from the beginning".

Mr Trump later flew aboard Air Force One across the country to his golf resort in Doonbeg, County Clare, which is hosting the Irish Open.

He was pictured with his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., watching play on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier this year, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham sparked a political row on the island of Ireland when he said a unity referendum is "off the table".

Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the UK Northern Irish secretary is obliged to hold a border poll if he believes unification will be supported by a majority of voters.

To effect constitutional change, the people of the Republic of Ireland must also vote in favour.

Republican party Sinn Fein has boycotted the annual St Patrick's day visit to Washington for the last two years over the Trump administration's stance on the Middle East, but Northern Ireland's leading unionist parties, the DUP and UUP, have continued to attend and engage with the US president.

(c) Sky News 2026: Trump calls for Irish reunification - and claims 'it will happen eventually'