New York mayor Zohran Mamdani said the question of a united Ireland belongs to the Irish people, speaking after a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin in New York, according to The Journal.
Mamdani said he believes in self-determination, The Journal reported. RTÉ reported that he described the answer to "26 plus 6" as one for the Irish to decide, a reference to the 26 counties of the Republic and the six counties of Northern Ireland.
The two men met in what The Irish Times described as the heart of Irish New York, where they called bingo numbers and posed for photographs together. The Irish Examiner had earlier reported that Martin was due to meet the mayor in New York.
The encounter places a domestic Irish political question in an American setting, with the mayor of New York City — a city with deep Irish connections — offering a view on how any future decision on Irish unity should be reached. Mamdani framed the matter as one of self-determination rather than taking a position of his own on the outcome, according to The Journal.
Martin, for his part, was in New York for the meeting and the accompanying public appearance, which The Irish Times covered as a light-hearted event centred on the bingo session.
What to watch next: whether Martin or the Irish government responds to Mamdani's remarks, and whether the mayor's comments draw further reaction in Ireland or among Irish-American groups.
