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

The statement produced at Chequers is a valuable input into the negotiations on the final status. It may produce a credible pathway towards further negotiations, but we need to study the White Paper first. On its own, it is not a solution and nobody is claiming that it is. As we have said so many times in the past, if the United Kingdom is willing to modify and evolve some of its red lines, the European Union should be flexible also. In the period ahead it is a space we can be in. It is two years since the referendum occurred in the United Kingdom and for two years we have not known what Brexit means. There has not been a united position in the British Government. I firmly hope what we saw emanating from Chequers on Friday and what we will see in the White Paper later this week will at long last represent an agreed UK Government position on what it wants the future relationship to look like. We have always known what we want it to look like. First, it should protect the common travel area; second, it should allow continued free trade between Britain and Ireland; and, third, it should avoid a hard border on the island. These are and have been our objectives for two years. They are ones I believe we can achieve.

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