Politico says Trump would 'love' a united Ireland; Der Standard makes it 'cool', Dagens Nyheter 'fantastiskt'

The remark. Donald Trump said in Dublin on Saturday that he would like to see Ireland and Northern Ireland united, and that it would happen eventually. Eight of the eleven reports we hold carry both halves. The word he chose for the wish reaches readers five different ways.

What one report carries alone. El Mundo says he also put British sovereignty over the Falklands in question, and calls the remark a slap at the United Kingdom; no other report we hold mentions the islands. Der Standard alone quotes unionists, warning of the "destruction of the country", and alone says a referendum would need London's consent. iDNES alone reports that he met President Catherine Connolly as well as Taoiseach Micheál Martin. taz drops the remark and covers the trip as a visit to a golf course he owns.

Not settled. Three reports say London replied within hours. One gives the words — its position has not changed — and attributes them to an unnamed spokesperson. That same report, in Efimerida ton Syntakton, names the British prime minister as Andy Burnham, twice in one line; no other report we hold names the office-holder at all. We cannot check the Falklands claim against anything else we hold. No report we hold quotes anyone living in Northern Ireland by name.

What this is about. Whether the island of Ireland, split in two for a century, should become one state. A US president has now said he would like that.

How it got here. - 1921: Ireland was partitioned. Twenty-six counties became what is now the Republic of Ireland, an independent state. Six counties in the north-east stayed in the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. - Late 1960s to 1998: "The Troubles" was a conflict over that border. Irish nationalists, mostly Catholic, wanted a united Ireland. Unionists, mostly Protestant, wanted to stay British. Armed groups on both sides, and the British Army, were involved. - 10 April 1998: The Good Friday Agreement ended most of the violence. The United States helped broker it, and US Senator George Mitchell chaired the talks. The agreement lets Northern Ireland leave the UK only by a vote, a "border poll", held on both sides of the border. Only the British government, through its Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, can call that vote in the North. It has never done so. - 2016–2020: The UK voted to leave the EU and left in 2020. Northern Ireland left with it, although a majority there had voted to remain. Ireland is still in the EU. That made the Irish border one of the hardest questions in the Brexit talks.

Who is involved, and why. - Ireland's government is led by Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheál Martin, who met Trump in Dublin. - The British government is the only body that can call a border poll. - Unionists in Northern Ireland oppose unity. - Nationalists there want it. - Donald Trump owns a golf resort at Doonbeg, in the west of Ireland. The reports say that was the main purpose of the two-day trip.

What is at stake. If Ireland were united, Northern Ireland would rejoin the EU as part of an EU member state. EU leaders accepted that principle in 2017. It would also end British rule on the island. If there is no vote, the current arrangement stays.

Where it stands. No border poll has been called. The reports we hold say London answered within hours that its position has not changed. None of them says a vote is being planned.