Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a time-limited negotiation and, at the end of March 2019, Britain leaves so we need to move on to phase 2. Even if we move onto phase 2 in December and start serious negotiations in January, we still only have about nine months to put a new template or framework agreement in place, which is a very short space of time in the context of a negotiation as complex as this one. We have no guarantees that we will move onto phase 2 in December unless we can make progress on the Irish Border and other issues.

We speak to the EU negotiating team every single day through our ambassador, who has done a brilliant job in Brussels. He is deeply involved in the negotiations and understands all the issues. We are putting ideas into the system all the time. We want to be tough but fair with our friends in the UK but we have absolute solidarity in our thinking so far. We will continue to work that way but we have a job to do and if we are not getting anything back from the British side in terms of solving these problems, then we have to start contributing ourselves and we are doing that.

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