Irish PM: Trump Backing Could Boost US Role in United Ireland Push

NEW YORK — Nearly 30 years after the Good Friday Agreement reshaped Northern Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said the United States could again have a role in a future campaign for a united Ireland after President Donald Trump voiced support for reunification.

Martin, whose Fianna Fáil party backs Irish unity, said the 1998 accord established a peaceful process for determining Northern Ireland’s constitutional future and largely ended the three decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles. But he warned that the longstanding divide between nationalist and unionist communities must be addressed first.

“I believe in unity and my party believes in unity, but we have to work on it,” Martin told News Media in an exclusive interview. “We have to build reconciliation among the different traditions on the island of Ireland.”

“The U.S. was critical to the success of peace and conflict resolution in Ireland,” Martin said.

Martin spoke with News Media on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, describing the world as being at a global “crossroad” amid the war in Ukraine, conflicts across the Middle East and negotiations involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

Throughout the interview, he repeatedly pointed to Ireland’s own journey from conflict to peace as a model for addressing crises overseas. He also defended Ireland’s longstanding military neutrality, even as the country has increased its support for Ukraine.

The question of Irish unity drew fresh attention during Trump’s visit to Ireland last month. The president said he would “love” to see the island unified and predicted that reunification would eventually take place.

Asked whether Washington could once again contribute if Ireland moves toward reunification, Martin replied: “To a degree maybe, potentially, yeah.”

Martin spoke before the latest confrontation over Garvaghy Road in Portadown, which revived one of Northern Ireland’s most divisive disputes over parades and highlighted the continuing strength of nationalist-unionist tensions.

Last month, the Parades Commission authorized a limited Orange Order march along the predominantly nationalist Garvaghy Road for the first time in 28 years. Residents and supporters blocked the route, while police declined to force the parade through because of fears that doing so could trigger serious disorder.

The Orange Order is a Protestant organization whose members generally support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. Many residents of the predominantly Catholic, nationalist Garvaghy Road area favor a united Ireland.

The standoff has moved into the courts and Stormont, Northern Ireland’s seat of government, as negotiators continue seeking a compromise.

The Good Friday Agreement allows a referendum to be called if it appears that a majority in Northern Ireland would support reunification. Martin said, however, that more work is needed to determine what a united Ireland would look like and to expand engagement with communities on both sides of the border.

Martin said the lessons of Northern Ireland’s peace process reach well beyond the island.

“Because of our conflict in Northern Ireland, we feel we can make a contribution to that conflict resolution pathway,” Martin said.

He said Ireland’s experience in ending decades of violence now informs its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and Europe’s increasingly uncertain security landscape.

“We don’t get a sense that Russia is really interested at this particular stage,” Martin said of efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Martin, who met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the previous evening, nonetheless said it was important to keep communication channels open between Washington and Moscow.

Asked whether a realistic peace settlement would ultimately require Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia, Martin rejected the premise.

“Ukraine can’t cede territory that Russia hasn’t even conquered, despite four years of war,” Martin said.

But he said a ceasefire along existing battle lines could provide a starting point for negotiations.

“If we even could get a ceasefire on existing lines, and then negotiations to start,” Martin said, adding that Kyiv would need protections against renewed Russian aggression. “Ukraine needs security guarantees.”

Martin also pointed to Ukraine’s path toward European Union membership as potentially providing an additional layer of security and said the broader security architecture between Europe and Russia would ultimately have to be addressed in negotiations.

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“From our perspective, no one has the right to go into another country and take its territory,” Martin said.

Ireland’s extensive support for Kyiv, however, raises a more contentious question at home: how far can a militarily neutral country support one side in a war while maintaining that neutrality?

Ireland has committed more than $754 million in humanitarian assistance, military training and other non-lethal support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 while stopping short of providing lethal weapons.

News Media asked Martin whether that level of support undermined Ireland’s neutrality.

“No, because we don’t give lethal aid, we haven’t given military weaponry, but we have given non-lethal assistance in terms of training and so on like that, and also humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” Martin said.

Ireland has also taken in large numbers of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Martin said more than 120,000 had arrived at one point, with roughly 80,000 remaining in the country at the time of the interview.

“That’s not taking sides, that’s taking a humanitarian response to a war,” Martin said. “And many are contributing, many are working in the economy.”

Ireland’s neutrality has also faced scrutiny over the long-standing use of Shannon Airport by the U.S. military.

NATO’s top military commander, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, described Shannon in August as a “very important logistics hub” for the United States and said withdrawing American military access would probably damage U.S.-Irish relations.

The airport’s role has long drawn protests from Irish neutrality campaigners, who argue that allowing U.S. military personnel and aircraft to transit through a civilian airport undermines the country’s neutral status.

Despite differing approaches to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, Martin described the U.S.-Ireland relationship in almost familial terms.

“There’s a very strong bond between Ireland and the United States,” Martin said.

He pointed to the long-standing tradition of Irish leaders visiting the White House on St. Patrick’s Day and the enormous Irish American diaspora, which he estimated at roughly 30 million people.

“It’s just family, there’s kinship ties,” Martin said.

Martin said Ireland’s peace-process experience also informs its approach to the Middle East, where Dublin has emerged as one of Israel’s strongest European critics.

He condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack and defended Israel’s right to security while arguing that the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza had been “absolutely disproportionate.”

“We believe in a two-state solution,” Martin said. “We believe that Israel, of course, has a right to exist in security and its people need to be guaranteed of security. But likewise, Palestinians should have a right to live in their homeland in a peaceful way.”

Martin said Ireland’s strongly anti-Israel position was shaped partly by its own history and what he described as a “sense of right and justice and fairness.”

Ireland currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, placing Martin at the center of negotiations as Europe confronts its biggest security challenges in decades.

“There’s a big realization in Europe that we have to do more to provide greater security to Europe, particularly because of the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Martin said.

He pointed particularly to Baltic and Nordic countries, whose governments have increased defense spending amid fears about Russia.

“Many have an existential fear of Russia,” Martin said.

Martin said Europe was also tightening its approach to immigration, echoing comments he made elsewhere in the interview that asylum applications had fallen across Ireland and that governments across the continent were responding to mounting political pressure.

For Martin, those challenges — from Ukraine and the Middle East to Ireland’s own unfinished constitutional future —ultimately return to the lessons he believes his country learned through decades of conflict and the peace process that followed.

“The world needs to try and turn a page toward a more peaceful sort of coexistence,” Martin said.