British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has insisted that the poll is “off the table” because there is not enough public support for Northern Ireland to leave the UK.
US President Donald Trump said during a visit to Dublin that a united Ireland would be “great”, but ministers in London did not welcome it.
President Trump’s comments on Saturday came weeks after British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said a referendum on Northern Ireland’s departure from the UK was “off the table.”
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“I don’t want to start a problem, but let me tell you this: I want us to be united,” Trump told reporters, sitting next to Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin.
“It’s going to happen eventually…I think that would be great,” he said.
“Now Britain will have something to say about it…but I think it would be great,” he added.
Martin did not respond to questions from reporters commenting on the US president’s remarks.
Following President Trump’s comments, a spokesman for Mr Burnham said there had been no change in his position on a united Ireland.
Responding to a question from MPs on Wednesday about the possibility of a referendum in Northern Ireland, Mr Burnham said: “I am not aware that there is a majority of people who support holding another referendum. Until that changes, there will not be one.”
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (also known as the Belfast Agreement), a referendum on Brexit can only be held at the discretion of the UK government.
The agreement ended three decades of violence known as the Troubles. This sectarian conflict primarily involved Catholic nationalist militias seeking a united Ireland, Protestant trade unionist militias wishing to remain part of the United Kingdom, and the British military.
Gavin Robinson, leader of Northern Ireland’s main union party, the DUP, said Northern Ireland’s future was a matter for the people, not Trump, to decide.
“President Trump knows better than anyone that elections matter. Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.”
Opinion polls show a strong majority in Northern Ireland support remaining in the UK, but the gap has narrowed slightly since Brexit pushed unity to the top of the political agenda.
Trump also met with Irish President Catherine Connolly, who was elected head of state last year. When Trump last visited Ireland as president in 2019, Connolly, an outspoken politician with left-wing foreign policy views, protested at Shannon Airport in western Ireland.
During President Trump’s visit, some supporters called on him to oppose U.S. military action around the world and protect Ireland’s neutrality.
anti-trump protests
Anti-war and anti-Trump protests were held in Dublin, with some later planned near Mr Trump’s golf course in Doonbeg, in the west of Ireland.
Reporting from the capital, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said Dubliners had a “long list” of reasons to protest President Trump’s visit.
“They feel that the Irish government should not roll out the red carpet for someone like Trump, who they say is a cause of global instability, enabling Israeli actions in Gaza, and destabilizing the entire Middle East.”
Irish citizens have also protested the high cost of Trump’s entertainment, including security, and potentially other costs such as health care and social issues, Veselinovic added.
