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

A decision on whether there will be a special summit in November has not yet been taken. A date is pencilled into our diaries in case it is necessary, but the decision that we made in Salzburg was that we would only have a special summit in November if decisive progress was made in October. I cannot say at the moment that decisive progress has been made, but that is something that will play out over the next couple of days in Brussels. A decision will be made on whether to have a November summit when we can determine whether that is necessary. We will not be having a summit for the sake of it. If we have a summit in November, it will be to conclude a withdrawal agreement, including a backstop on Ireland.

In terms of preparations for no deal, even though I strongly believe that a no-deal scenario is unlikely, we are stepping up our preparations for that scenario. We had a detailed discussion at Cabinet today on Brexit and on those preparations, and that includes the hiring of customs officials and veterinary inspectors, preparing legislation, IT systems and preparations to install physical infrastructure in our ports and our airports, but not along the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

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