Trump says a unified Ireland is ‘going to happen eventually’

President Trump on Saturday expressed optimism about the reunification of Ireland during a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin.

The president, who is visiting his Irish golf course this weekend for a major golf tournament, said he would “love” to see the joining of the Republic of Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland.

“I’d love to see it unified,” Trump said. “I think that’d be a great feather in everybody’s cap if that happened. It’s going to happen eventually.”

He pointed to Martin, adding, “You’ve got the right man over here to get it moving.”

The president noted that “the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously.”

Previous U.S. presidents have typically avoided directly commenting on this contentious issue. Ireland’s split followed decades of violent conflict, called “the Troubles,” in Northern Ireland over whether to unite with the rest of Ireland or to remain part of the U.K.

The Good Friday Agreement, which the U.S. helped broker to end this conflict, gives the secretary of Northern Ireland the ability to call a border poll if it seems likely that a majority of people in the region would support Irish unification.

On Wednesday, U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham told British parliament members that he was “not aware that there is majority support for another referendum.”

“Until that changes, there will not be one,” he added.

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, slammed Trump’s comments in a social media post on Saturday.

“President Trump is shooting from the hip as usual, just like he did with Greenland and Canada becoming the 51st state,” she wrote. “This sort of loose talk about the future of democratic countries is deeply unhelpful and creates unnecessary tension.

“Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom,” Badenoch continued. “At a time when separatists are in power in Scotland, Wales and NI, we need a Government that will defend the Union clearly and confidently.”

Gavin Robinson, the leader of the U.K.’s Democratic Unionist Party who represents Northern Ireland in Parliament, also reacted to the president’s comment in a social media post .

“President Trump knows better than most that elections matter,” Robinson said. “Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by the people of Northern Ireland, not by commentary in London, Dublin or Washington.”

Robinson expressed his confidence that the people of Northern Ireland “will continue to choose the UK and the security it offers.”