Donald Trump said he would "love" to see a united Ireland during a two-day visit to the Republic of Ireland, then repeated the view the next day at his golf resort in Doonbeg. Gardaí described preparations for the trip as one of the biggest security and policing operations they had ever undertaken, with officers working 10,000 12-hour shifts between Friday and Sunday, the BBC reported. The plans included two water cannon from Northern Ireland and closing Phoenix Park to the public.
What were the remarks? Meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Farmleigh House on 12 September, Trump said unification was "going to happen eventually" and would be "a fantastic thing", adding that the UK would "have something to say about it". Later that day he told business leaders at the US ambassador's residence there was "no good answer" to the question. In Doonbeg on Sunday, he called joining the two parts of the island "one of the naturals of all time" and described his earlier remarks as "a fairly routine comment".
How did London and Dublin respond? Downing Street pointed back to Prime Minister Andy Burnham's pledge to stand by the Good Friday Agreement "100%" and his position that a border poll would be considered only "when public opinion has changed". Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Trump was "shooting from the hip as usual" and that such "loose talk" was "deeply unhelpful", PBS NewsHour reported. Martin said some of the reaction was "an overreaction" and that the remarks "shouldn't be a surprise". Robert Jenrick said Trump's call for Irish reunification was "completely wrong", Sky News reported.
How did Northern Ireland's parties react? DUP leader Gavin Robinson said Northern Ireland's constitutional future would be decided by its people, "not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington". Sinn Féin approved of the comments, PBS NewsHour reported, and Gerry Adams, its leader when the Good Friday accord was signed, called them "welcome, even though we profoundly differ with him on many other matters". Robinson later called the remarks part of a "dead cat strategy" that had "diverted everyone's attention" from coverage of Trump's stance on the Middle East, the BBC reported.
What else happened during the visit? Irish President Catherine Connolly, who also met Trump in Dublin, said she told him "the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted". Thousands marched through central Dublin in protest, though Trump had already left for Doonbeg when the demonstration began.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
