Trump says he would “love” a unified Ireland, as he kicks off visit that mixes diplomacy and golf

Updated on: September 12, 2026 / 7:33 AM EDT / CBS/AP

President Trump said Saturday he would love to see a unified Ireland as he kicked off a visit to the country, where he will meet with leaders and attend a major golf tournament at one of his courses.

During a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, Mr. Trump said the unification of the Republic of Ireland with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, "may as well happen now."

"I don't want to cause any problems but I'd love to see it unified. I think it would be a fantastic thing," Mr. Trump said, adding that "the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously."

When Ireland became a self-governing Roman Catholic-majority country a century ago, a six-county region in the north with a Protestant majority remained part of the United Kingdom. Tensions between Protestant unionists, who wanted to stay British, and Catholic nationalists, who wanted to join the rest of Ireland, led to three decades of violence.

A 1998 peace accord that the U.S. was instrumental in striking largely ended the violence but left Northern Ireland's ultimate status unresolved.

Mr. Trump also…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/healthwatch/