The German Ambassador to Ireland says the reunification of Germany was not a foregone conclusion after the Berlin Wall came down.

Matthias Hoepfner's comments come as the country marks 25 years since the fall of the wall.

This evening, thousands of balloons - illuminating a 9-mile stretch of the former Cold War barrier - will be released.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from communist East Germany to the West - the country became united again in 1989.

But Ambassador Hoepfner says financial chaos meant there were no further splits: