Trump raises questions about Irish reunification – sharp reactions

During his trip to Ireland, US President Donald Trump also raised the question of reunification of the Irish island. The reactions are sharp.

Trump spoke about the question of reunification during a meeting with Micheál Martin. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP/dpa

Dublin. Donald Trump ended his short visit to Ireland, during which he caused a political uproar with just a few sentences, on the golf course. While the US President watched the final day of the Irish Open as host at his luxury resort in Doonbeg on the west coast, the British and Irish continued to discuss the consequences of Trump's succinct statements about the reunification of the Irish island.

“I would very much like to see it united,” Trump said on Saturday during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin. It will happen at some point anyway, so it could just as easily happen now, the US President added. A little later, at another appearance, he confirmed that a reunion would be a “pretty cool thing.”

It’s just that in Ireland and the UK this “cool thing” is an enormously politically, religiously and socially charged question. “Donald Trump is Donald Trump, and the president says what he thinks and expresses his opinion the way he sees things,” said British Housing Minister Angela Rayner on Sky News on Sunday morning. The British government continues to take the so-called Good Friday Agreement very seriously.

What matters is popular opinion

The agreement concluded in 1998 at the end of the bloody and decades-long Northern Ireland conflict and the Northern Ireland Act based on it stipulate that the British Northern Ireland Minister is obliged to call a referendum on the question of membership if it appears likely that a majority would vote for Irish unification. The population of the Republic of Ireland would then also have to vote for it so that a constitutional change can take place.

Current Northern Ireland Minister Chris Bryant shared images of the agreement on Platform X in response to Trump's statements. “In case anyone needs a quick refresher on the constitutional issues in Northern Ireland,” he wrote. “I hope this helps.” The border on the island of Ireland was established in 1921 with the entry into force of the “Government of Ireland Act”. While the south of the island gradually separated from 1922 and became the Republic of Ireland in 1949, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom.

The future of Northern Ireland will be decided by its people and not “by comments in London, Dublin or Washington,” said Gavin Robinson, head of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland. “As unionists, we have no interest in the destruction of our country through annexation to the Republic of Ireland.” Mary Lou McDonald, leader of the Sinn Féin party, which advocates reunification in Ireland and Northern Ireland, said, however, that Trump's comments were “timely”.

Difficult relationship between London and Washington

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently said that a referendum on the status of Northern Ireland would only be considered if there was “a clear consensus in the country”. The relatively new Labor leader tried to maintain a good relationship with Trump in his first few weeks after he had sharply publicly criticized Burnham's predecessor Keir Starmer on several occasions. Since then, British-American relations have been considered tense.

Trump said every question in the press was designed to get him - including the question about the Irish border. "I think I gave a nice answer. We'll read about it tomorrow," Trump said on Saturday - before he was back on the golf course on Sunday.