US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that ‘the UK will have something to say about it’
US President Donald Trump declared that Irish unification would be “a very cool thing” while acknowledging there was “no good answer” to such a loaded question.
Mr Trump offered these remarks while reflecting on an Irish unification query posed by the Press Association during an earlier press conference at Farmleigh House in Dublin, reports the Irish Mirror.
At the US ambassador’s residence in Ireland, Mr Trump said: “You have to understand with the press, with me, every question is a kill.”
Discussing the Press Association’s question, the US president continued: “But they’re going for the kill at all times, and they ask me a question: ‘What do you think about unification of Northern Ireland and Ireland? I said: ‘Oh, that’s a nice question’. I gave a nice answer, I think.
“We’ll read about it tomorrow. That’s one of those questions where, no matter what you say, no matter how well you say it, there’s no good answer, right?
“There are about four or five, I could tell you some other ones, but I’m not going to get you started. But that was one of the questions. But I actually said it would be, I think, a very cool thing.
“To be honest with you, I think it would be cool. As half the room clears out, they say: ‘Let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t like this guy. I liked him a lot 10 minutes ago. I don’t like him’.”
During an earlier meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr Trump said that he would “love” to see Ireland unified and that “it may as well happen now” as it is “going to happen eventually”.
Speaking while sitting alongside the Taoiseach, Mr Trump remarked: “Well, I don’t want to cause any problems, but I will tell you I’d love to see it unified. I have friends on both sides, great people. They’re Irish people. How can they be bad, right?
“I’d love to see it unified. I think it would be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually. You know what? The way I look at it, it’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.
“We’re talking about it and you got the right man over here to get it moving. But, yeah, I think it would be a fantastic thing.
“Now the UK will have something to say about it, obviously. But I think it would be a great thing. I mean, how can it be bad?”
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