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.Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 13:16Pictured: People take part in an anti-Trump protest march through Dublin A placard showing Donald Trump with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein during an anti-Trump protest march through Dublin city centre (PA)Anti-Trump Protest In Dublin (Getty)People take part in an anti-Trump protest march through Dublin city centre (PA)Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 13:09Micheál Martin said he wanted to reaffirm 'strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties'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."Micheal Martin and his wife Mary Martin applaud as they listen to US President Donald Trump (Getty)Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 13:05'The world's in turmoil and this fella's down playing golf': Residents react to Trump's visitSome 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."Go down to Morrissey's tavern in Doonbeg and hear from a real Irish person as to whether or not they like President Trump and the Trump family, go have them attest to what we've done for the country and what we've invested in the country and the love and respect that our family has always shown them," he said.Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 13:00Huge protests set to overshadow Trump’s golfing trip to Ireland: ‘We don’t want him here’Nine months before Donald Trump was voted in as US president for the first time in 2016, he was asked at a campaign rally about a large golf course he purchased on a picturesque sliver of Ireland’s Atlantic coast."We spent a lot of money on making it just perfecto and now it’s doing great. But I don’t care about that stuff anymore. It is like small potatoes,” he said.His interest in the site appears to have suddenly been rekindled. This weekend, protesters will turn out at the course in Doonbeg, Co Clare and across Ireland as he makes his first visit to the island as US president since 2019.Read more here:Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:50Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:49President Catherine Connolly welcomes Trump Irish President Catherine Connolly is a left-wing politician who was among those who protested when Trump visited Ireland in 2019 during his first term in office. A supporter of the Palestinian cause, she in the past has criticised US policy in the Middle East and called Trump a "bully."The Irish president met Trump at the end of a red carpet at her official residence. They shook hands and chatted before going inside. He emerged alone a few minutes later and saluted as an Irish Defence Forces band played the US national anthem and inspected an Irish Army honor guard.Connolly then joined Trump outdoors to introduce the US and Irish delegations before the leaders went back inside for their closed-door talks.President Catherine Connolly welcomes US President Donald Trump as he arrives (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:45Trump says Ireland is 'sixth largest source of foreign direct investment' in USDonald Trump said that Ireland is “now the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment in the United States”.Addressing guests at the residence of the US ambassador, he said: “I’m pleased to say that Ireland is now the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment in the United States, with nearly 392 billion dollars invested in 2025.“And because the market is the best market we’ve ever had, we hit 80 all-time highs during this period of about 15 months, up to 15 months, it hit 80, so your investment is up probably 60 per cent or 70 per cent.”President Donald Trump is on a two-day non-state visit to Ireland. (Getty)Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:42Donald Trump confirms he will attend 2027 Ryder Cup in Ireland despite protestsDonald Trump has confirmed he plans to return to Ireland next year to attend the 2027 Ryder Cup in Limerick.The US president was meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Farmleigh House in Dublin to kick off a two-day visit to the Emerald Isle, during which he also made the explosive assertion that he would “love” to see a united Ireland.Asked if he would come back to Ireland for the next edition of the Ryder Cup, Trump replied: “I will, absolutely. It’s a big tournament.”Read more here:Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:38Democratic Unionist Party leader reacts to Trumps comments on IrelandGavin Robinson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, has said “President Trump knows better than most that elections matter”, following his claims that a unified Ireland would be “cool”. He wrote: "Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington."Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom because that is the settled democratic will of its people."I am confident NI will continue to choose the UK and the security it offers. As unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic."Rebecca Whittaker12 September 2026 12:35