Donald Trump, as is his wont, put the cat among the pigeons last weekend with his comments about the inevitability and desirability of a united Ireland.

United Irelanders, some of them busy protesting against Trump’s visit, wholeheartedly welcomed his far-sighted and statesmanlike comments: even Donald Trump can see it; why can’t Micheál Martin?

Unionists reverse-ferreted on their occasional previous admiration for Trump: sure, everyone knows he’s a gobshite, why are you paying any attention to what he says?

So it goes. A fortnight earlier, Andy Burnham declared that a Border poll was “off the table”. The pro-unity gang, led by Sinn Féin, went bananas while unionists chuckled a smug told-you-so. Welcome to the zero-sum politics of Northern Ireland, where there is no longer such a thing as a win-win.

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Whatever his motivation, Trump’s intervention did one thing: it shunted the united Ireland question a few degrees further towards the centre of Irish political debate. This process has been gradually ongoing for several years. The question of Irish unity now features as a part of mainstream politics in the South........

© The Irish Times