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

Yes, I am is the answer to both of those questions. We are at the business end of these negotiations and this is difficult, and it was always going to be difficult. The complexity of Britain leaving the European Union and of getting the complexity of a withdrawal treaty finalised, in terms of legal text that provides absolute certainty and that will stand to legal scrutiny and so on, was always going to be very difficult. That withdrawal treaty is close to 90% complete. A great deal of good work has been done by both negotiating teams to move that process forward.

What is not complete is the most difficult final 10%, which involves Ireland. It involves the backstop and the Border issues. The Taoiseach and I have been absolutely clear that we will never sign up to a withdrawal treaty that does not involve a follow through on the commitments of last December and last March from the British Government. This means a legally operable backstop in place as part of the legal text in what is called the Irish protocol of the withdrawal treaty that lives up to the political commitment of last December, which is to provide guarantees that there will be no Border infrastructure on the island of Ireland in the future as an unintended consequence of Brexit. To her credit, I believe that the British Prime Minister is committed to following through on those commitments. The two negotiation teams now need to intensify their engagement on the detail of how to do that in a way that Britain can accept and in a way that delivers on the promises that have been made.

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