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

I thank the Deputies. I reassure them that the Government will not take sides in the UK general election. While individual parties might support other individual parties, as a Government, we certainly will not have any role or involvement in the UK election.

If there is a conservative win, I would expect the withdrawal agreement to be ratified quickly, allowing us to move swiftly on to talks about the future relationship. Everything is still to play for in terms of the future relationship, particularly because of the joint political declaration talks about tariff-free, quota-free trade between the UK and the rest of the EU, including Ireland, with a level playing field, and that is precisely what I want us to achieve. If there is a different government, a remain-leaning government comprising Labour, the Liberal Democrats and SNP, which wants to reopen the issue of a customs union, we would be happy to talk to them about that and, indeed, would welcome it. I only hope that whatever happens, it is a clear result because what we had for the past couple of years was a finely balanced hung parliament that ultimately could not approve anything.

See this speech in context