US President Donald Trump has said he would "love" to see a united Ireland and that he thinks it will happen eventually. Talking to the press during a weekend visit to Dublin and his Irish golf course, the president called the idea a “fantastic thing”. He added: "Well, I don't want to cause any problems, but I will tell you, I'd love to see it unified," He said after a meeting with Irish prime minister Micheal Martin in Dublin.
"The way I look at it, it's going to happen eventually ... I think it would be a fantastic thing. Now the UK will have something to say about it ... but I think it would be a great thing." Trump made the statement after he held talks on Saturday with his Irish counterpart Catherine Connolly.
It comes during a weekend visit that's more about a major golf tournament hosted on a course he owns on the country's Atlantic coast. He will address the US and Irish business leaders at the US ambassador's official residence in Dublin before traveling to his oceanfront golf club in Doonbeg, on the other side of the country, to watch the Irish Open. Trump flew overnight to Ireland after observing the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
The Republican president spent the two nights before Friday's solemn observance giving lengthy speeches at a political pep rally in Dallas. Micheál Martin invited Trump to visit Ireland when they met at the White House on St. Patrick's Day this year, and Ireland's political leaders will likely see the visit as a chance to maintain warm trans-Atlantic relations despite differences over trade and foreign policy, issues the White House said Trump wants to discuss.
Martin said before Trump arrived that he looked forward to discussing issues of "mutual interest" and "reaffirming the strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties between Ireland and the United States." Some residents are annoyed at the disruption caused by Trump’s visit, suggesting it has caused “mayhem”. Police put up a cordon around Dublin's 1,750-acre (700-hectare) Phoenix Park, where he met Connolly at her residence, Áras an Uachtaráin. He will meet Martin, the taoiseach, at the government's Farmleigh state guesthouse and stop by Deerfield, the ambassador's residence.
"He's causing mayhem in this city because he wants to go down to Doonbeg and play golf," said taxi driver Christopher Fox, emphatically not a fan of Trump. "The world's in turmoil and this fella's down playing golf." Trump's son, Eric, says the family is loved in Ireland, despite protests planned over his father's visit. Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTE on Friday in Doonbeg, home to the Trump International golf resort, Eric Trump said the course is the largest employer in the area.
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