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

-----between the UK and the EU and, therefore, between Ireland and the UK. It will never end.

This is just a phase. This phase is the withdrawal agreement phase, in which we want to protect citizens' rights, ensure a financial settlement that is fair and make sure that we do not have a hard border between North and South. I believe that we will have achieved that if the House of Commons and the European Parliament ratify this agreement, but then we will go on to the next phase, that is negotiating the future economic relationship - that FTA - with the UK. It will be my objective, if I am negotiating it, to try to secure tariff-free and quota-free trade with a level playing field. That is exactly the right thing for Irish business, for Irish jobs and also for workers, health and safety standards and environmental standards.

Just to finish up on these questions, we have had no - at least I have had no - discussions with the UK Government in the past two weeks on a direct rule, but the Government's position on that is as it always has been.

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