Donald Trump says a united Ireland would be ‘a fantastic thing’

Shock comments: US President Donald Trump speaks at Farmleigh House (Getty)

There were audible gasps among journalists as Donald Trump told a press conference that he would ‘love’ to see a united Ireland.

The US president made the bombshell comment sitting alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who appeared shocked by the announcement.

Asked about the prospect of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland becoming one country during a two-day visit to the island, Mr Trump said: ‘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?

Security: US President Donald Trump arrives in Ireland (PA)

‘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?’

Mr Trump is in Ireland to visit to his golf club in Doonbeg, County Clare, which is staging the Irish Open.

Issues surrounding Irish nationalists, who wanted independence from Britain, and unionists who want to remain in the UK, led to the Troubles and have been the source of decades of violence in the country.

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