US president Donald Trump’s suggestion of an Irish merger was “just banter”, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has said.
It came at the start of the president’s address to the annual Speakers’ Friends of Ireland Luncheon at Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Mr Trump had been welcoming some of the notable guests to the event, including Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister, Ms Little-Pengelly, when he observed: “They get along so well.”
Looking towards the two, he added: “I saw that, you get along very well together, I don’t know if I should be promoting merger, I love mergers.”
As most in the room laughed, Mr Trump added: “We’re going to get into more trouble with that than the beauty”, in reference to a comment he had made earlier describing a woman he had called out as beautiful.
Speaking to the Press Association on Wednesday during the British ambassador to the US Sir Christian Turner’s St Patrick’s Day breakfast, Ms Little-Pengelly said it had been clear it was a joke.
“It’s absolutely just a bit of banter, anybody who watches his speeches knows that he highlights people in the room and has a bit of banter with them, it’s very much his style,” she said.
“But what I think it does indicate is that he recognises that Northern Ireland is in the room, he recognises the political context, and I think that has come about because of that political engagement of Northern Ireland being present, being here, turning up, standing up, speaking up, championing Northern Ireland.
“Of course, we can never control what the president thinks, or what the president will say, of course we don’t, many many people have very strong views on the president, including myself, a number of times I would disagree with what he says on a range of issues – but ultimately I am here to champion Northern Ireland, and I think that we’ve done that very well this week.”
Ms Little-Pengelly described a “hugely positive” visit, during which she met Mr Trump at the luncheon, and also had a meeting with him at the White House.