Trump says a unified Ireland would be ‘fantastic’ during Irish visit

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham maintains that a poll is ‘off the table’ as there isn’t enough popular support for Northern Ireland to leave the UK.

Donald Trump with Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, September 12, 2026 [Brendan Smialowski/AFP]

United States President Donald Trump has said that a unified Ireland would be “fantastic”, in remarks made during a visit to Dublin that were not welcomed by government ministers in London.

Trump’s comments on Saturday came weeks after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom was “off the table”.

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“Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I’d love to see it unified,” Trump told reporters, while sitting next to Ireland’s Prime Minister, Micheal Martin.

“It’s going to happen eventually … I think it would be a fantastic thing,” he said.

“Now the UK will have something to say about it … but I think it would be a great thing,” he added.

Martin declined to respond to reporters’ questions to comment on the US president’s remarks.

Following Trump’s comments, a spokesperson for Burnham said his position on Irish unification remained unchanged.

Responding to questions from members of parliament on Wednesday about a potential poll in Northern Ireland, Burnham said: “I am not aware that there is majority public support for another referendum, and until that changes, there will not be one”.

Donald Trump is welcomed by Ireland’s President Catherine Connolly at her official residence in Dublin, September 12, 2026 [Kin Cheung/AP]

Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (also known as the Belfast Agreement), a referendum on leaving the UK can be held only at the discretion of the British government.

The accord ended three decades of violence known as The Troubles. The sectarian conflict involved mostly Catholic nationalist paramilitaries seeking a united Ireland, mostly Protestant unionist paramilitaries wanting to remain part of the UK, and British troops.

Gavin Robinson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland’s main unionist party, said that Northern Ireland’s future was a matter for its people to decide, not Trump.

“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.”

While polls show a comfortable majority in Northern Ireland favour remaining in the UK, the gap has narrowed slightly since Britain’s departure from the European Union pushed unity higher up the political agenda.

Trump also met Irish President Catherine Connolly, who was elected head of state last year . When Trump last visited Ireland as president in 2019, Connolly, an outspoken politician with left-wing foreign policy views, protested at Shannon Airport in western Ireland.

During Trump’s current visit, some supporters had urged her to speak out against US military actions around the world and defend Ireland’s neutrality.

People take part in a protest against the visit of US President Donald Trump in the Irish capital Dublin on September 12, 2026 [Adrian Dennis/AFP]

Anti-war and anti-Trump protests were held in Dublin and some were planned for later in western Ireland, near Trump’s golf course in Doonbeg.

Reporting from the capital, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said Dubliners had a “laundry list” of reasons for protesting against Trump’s visit.

“They feel that the Irish government should not be, in their words, rolling out the red carpet for someone like Trump, who they say is a cause of instability in the world and has been enabling Israel’s actions in Gaza … and destabilised the whole of the Middle East.”

Irish people are also protesting against the high cost of hosting Trump, including security, which they say could pay for other things, such as healthcare and social issues, added Veselinovic.

英国首相安迪·伯纳姆坚称，举行公投“不在考虑范围内”，因为北爱尔兰脱离英国的民众支持率不够高。

2026年9月12日，唐纳德·特朗普与爱尔兰总理米歇尔·马丁在都柏林会面。[Brendan Smialowski/AFP]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在访问都柏林期间表示，统一的爱尔兰将是“非常棒的”，但这一言论并未受到伦敦政府部长们的欢迎。

特朗普周六发表上述言论之前几周，英国首相安迪·伯纳姆曾表示，关于北爱尔兰脱离英国的公投“不在考虑范围内”。

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“我不想制造任何问题，但我可以告诉你，我非常希望看到它统一，”特朗普坐在爱尔兰总理米歇尔·马丁旁边对记者说。

“这迟早会发生……我认为那将是一件非常棒的事情，”他说。

“现在英国肯定会对此发表意见……但我认为这将是一件好事，”他补充道。

马丁拒绝回答记者关于对美国总统言论发表评论的问题。

在特朗普发表上述言论后，伯纳姆的一位发言人表示，他对爱尔兰统一的立场没有改变。

周三，伯纳姆在回答议员们关于北爱尔兰可能举行公投的问题时表示：“据我所知，目前还没有多数公众支持再次举行公投，在情况改变之前，不会举行公投。”

2026年9月12日，唐纳德·特朗普到访爱尔兰总统凯瑟琳·康诺利位于都柏林的官邸。[Kin Cheung/AP]

根据 1998 年《贝尔法斯特协议》（又称《耶稣受难日协议》）的条款，是否举行脱离英国的全民公投只能由英国政府自行决定。

该协议结束了长达三十年的暴力冲突，即所谓的“北爱尔兰冲突”。这场教派冲突主要涉及寻求爱尔兰统一的天主教民族主义准军事组织、希望留在英国的新教联合主义准军事组织以及英国军队。

北爱尔兰主要统一党民主统一党（DUP）领袖加文·罗宾逊表示，北爱尔兰的未来应该由北爱尔兰人民决定，而不是由特朗普决定。

“特朗普总统比大多数人都清楚，选举至关重要。北爱尔兰的宪政未来将由北爱尔兰人民决定，而不是由伦敦、都柏林或华盛顿的评论决定。”

虽然民调显示，北爱尔兰绝大多数民众支持留在英国，但自英国脱欧以来，随着统一问题在政治议程中占据更重要的位置，这一差距略有缩小。

特朗普还会见了去年当选爱尔兰国家元首的凯瑟琳·康诺利总统。特朗普上次以总统身份访问爱尔兰是在2019年，当时康诺利——一位直言不讳、持有左翼外交政策观点的政治家——在爱尔兰西部的香农机场举行了抗议活动。

在特朗普此次访问期间，一些支持者敦促她公开反对美国在世界各地的军事行动，并捍卫爱尔兰的中立地位。

2026年9月12日，人们在爱尔兰首都都柏林参加抗议美国总统唐纳德·特朗普访问的活动。[Adrian Dennis/AFP]

都柏林举行了反战和反特朗普抗议活动，一些抗议活动计划稍后在爱尔兰西部，靠近特朗普位于杜恩贝格的高尔夫球场举行。

半岛电视台记者米莱娜·韦塞利诺维奇从首都报道称，都柏林市民有“一长串”理由抗议特朗普的到访。

“他们认为，爱尔兰政府不应该像他们所说的那样，为像特朗普这样的人铺设红地毯，他们认为特朗普是世界不稳定的根源，一直在纵容以色列在加沙的行动……并破坏了整个中东的稳定。”

维塞利诺维奇补充说，爱尔兰民众也在抗议接待特朗普的高昂费用，包括安保费用，他们认为这些费用本可以用于其他方面，例如医疗保健和社会问题。