Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Brexit stakeholder group is due to meet tomorrow and all parties are invited and welcome to participate in it. I have set up a system under which a very senior official in my Department is available to brief party leaders on the current state of the negotiations. Some party leaders have availed of it, although I am not sure if each of them has. I have committed to meeting party leaders in that regard and will do so when we are at decision point, but we are not yet at that stage. Things are evolving rapidly and changing on a daily basis. We are in daily contact with the task force headed by Michel Barnier. Much progress is being made on the financial settlement, but it has not yet been agreed to. None of the three items on which sufficient agreement is required before we can move to phase 2 has reached the necessary point. Progress is being made, but it is insufficient at this stage. We are in regular contact with other Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers and solidarity remains strong with Ireland on our specific issues, including avoiding a hard border. I am very confident that the European Council will operate by consensus and that there will be no need to use or threaten to use a veto because we have and will continue to have the support of our European colleagues on the issue of the Border.

See this speech in context