President Donald Trump stirred fresh debate over Irish unification during his Saturday visit to Dublin, telling reporters he would “love” to see Ireland unified and predicting it would “happen eventually.”
The comments came during a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the Farmleigh estate, where Trump was asked about the long-standing question of Northern Ireland’s constitutional future.
“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 like to see a unified country. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now. … I think it would be a fantastic thing.”
Trump acknowledged that the United Kingdom would “have something to say about it,” but maintained that unification “would be a great thing.”
The Republic of Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. Northern Ireland has remained part of the UK.
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the British government holds the power to call a referendum in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland would need a majority vote to unify with the Republic of Ireland — meaning it remains part of the UK until a majority of its people decide otherwise.
Trump’s comments came two weeks after new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom was “off the table.”
Later, at Deerfield — the U.S. ambassador’s official residence — Trump joked about being questioned on the issue earlier in the day.
“You have to understand, with me, every question’s a kill. This has been going on for 10 years now. I gave a nice answer, I think. We’ll read about it tomorrow. That’s one of those questions where no matter what you say, no matter how well you say it, there’s no good answer. I actually said it would be I think a very cool thing, to be honest with you, I think it would be cool.”
He joked that he might have offended half of the room by saying it.
Trump: Every question is a kill. They’re going for the kill at all times and 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. That’s one… pic.twitter.com/7cqgTu7Vw3
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2026
The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, Gavin Robinson, stressed that Northern Ireland is part of the UK “because that is the settled democratic will of its people.”
“President Trump knows better than most that elections matter,” Robinson wrote in a post on X. “Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.”
“As unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic,” his statement concluded.
President Trump knows better than most that elections matter. Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom because that is the settled… https://t.co/BozSTf93j9
— Gavin Robinson (@GRobinsonDUP) September 12, 2026
Trump landed in Dublin early Saturday, disembarking from Air Force One to be greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris before traveling to the Farmleigh estate for the bilateral meeting.
