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

That includes the transition period. What was agreed last week was the term of the transition period which, I believe, is a good development. Most people in Ireland want there to be a transition period. It is good for business. It is good for farmers, exporters and those whose jobs need to be secured. We now know that there will be a transition period. It will run until the end of 2020 and despite the fact that it said this would not be the case, the United Kingdom now accepts that during the entirety of that transition period the United Kingdom will remain in the Single Market and in the customs union, bound by the ECJ, will continue to pay into the European Union budget and yet will have no say on any of these matters. That is the basis on which the transition period was offered to the UK and it is what it accepted. It at least means Irish people, business, farmers and those whose jobs are dependent on exports and trade with Britain know that nothing will change until 2021. However, those are the terms. It is not agreed until everything is agreed.

It is our intention to agree the terms of the backstop by June. It is our objective to have it done by June but as I stated in Brussels, I am not willing to settle for anything just because it is June. It has to be a good deal and it has to be the right deal. It has to be a good outcome.

Even if we agree the terms of the backstop in June in the way we have agreed the terms of the transition period just last week, it is still the case that the withdrawal agreement will not be finalised until October. Nobody believes that the withdrawal agreement will be fully finalised until October even though it may be possible to agree the terms of the backstop in June in the way we agreed the terms of the transition period just last week - it is turning the yellow and white into green, if people are following how that is being worked. Nonetheless, the withdrawal agreement will not be finalised until October. Even at that point, it has to be ratified by the European Parliament and the UK Parliament and this will be an ongoing negotiation.

In terms of the text of the backstop, the UK is now engaging on the European text for the backstop.

We are also open to any alternative it might wish to put forward. There will be meetings at an official level almost every day this week on that. Our view is that the best way to resolve and avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland is through a deep, new free trade agreement and customs partnership with the UK which would negate the need for any new barriers between Northern Ireland and Ireland or between Britain and Ireland. That is the ideal outcome for us, so of course we will engage on that.

It is not intended that the free trade agreement and the new partnership agreement with the UK will be concluded in October. That is not the case at all. What we hope to have in October is a political declaration or agreement on what should be in that new EU-UK free trade agreement.

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