Trump says he would ‘love’ a united Ireland; spends Sunday at Doonbeg Irish Open
NEW · Sun. 9:15 a.m. EDT
On Saturday in Dublin beside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, President Trump said he would “love” to see Ireland unified with Northern Ireland, that reunification is “going to happen eventually,” and that it “may as well happen now,” drawing pushback from UK and Northern Ireland unionist voices. Trump met President Catherine Connolly and Martin before traveling to Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, County Clare, for the Irish Open; he is due to leave Shannon Sunday evening. Thousands protested in Dublin and near Doonbeg over U.S. Middle East policy; Irish security costs for the visit were reported around €20 million.
Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland — near the Doonbeg coast where Trump is attending the Irish Open. File photograph; not from Sunday’s tournament.
Berthold Werner / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Center-left view
BBC, The Guardian, and PA Media lead with the diplomatic break from U.S. neutrality on Irish unification, Saturday’s Dublin protests numbering in the thousands, and criticism that a golf-centered Doonbeg weekend mixed family-business promotion with sensitive constitutional politics while Gaza/Iran protesters marched in Dublin and Clare.
Sources: BBC · The Guardian · PA Media
Center-right view
RFI/AFP, NBC, and BBC note Trump’s consistent personal view that Irish unity would be positive, Martin’s office saying the remark should surprise no one, local Doonbeg welcome for Trump Organization investment since 2014, and the Sunday Irish Open attendance as the stated purpose of the two-day trip before a Shannon departure — while UK and unionist politicians objected to a sitting U.S. president endorsing reunification.