A group of Northern Ireland politicians have met with the taoiseach in Dublin to discuss the draft Brexit deal.
Sinn Féin's leader for Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill, SDLP leader Colm Eastwood, The Alliance Party's Stephen Farry and Green Party leader Steven Agnew attended a joint meeting with Mr Varadkar this morning.
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After the meeting, Sinn Féin's leader in the north Michelle O'Neill said: "We have had a very positive meeting with taoiseach and tánaiste, a meeting where we were able to seek some assurances over what has been achieved in the agreement so far.
"We set out as four pro-Remain parties with a common objective, in the first instance we speak for the majority in Northern Ireland, and we're conscious that the DUP do not speak for the majority in the north.
"We come at it from a number of basis, firstly that we need to protect the Good Friday Agreement, we need permanency in the backstop and no room for withdrawal from the British government, and that has been achieved thus far.
"We are broadly positive."
SDLP leader Colm Eastwood said: "There is no such thing as a good Brexit deal, we did not want Brexit to happen, if there's a way of stopping it we'll try.
"Right now it's important for us to bank the backstop, that's what we asked for, that is our insurance policy that there will be no hard border.
"The government need credit for delivering upon that.
"I would say to the people in Westminster, I know you have your own constituencies but we have a responsibility, and I think everyone has a responsibility to avoid a hard border, this does that.
"We cannot risk the peace and progress we have made."
Steven Agnew of the Green Party said: "We came here to try and achieve the best possible deal for Northern Ireland, and with the backstop proposals I think we've done that.
"We've alleviated the worst fears of what could result for our people from Brexit.
"We need people in Westminster to put away their political differences, to come together, to ensure this backstop and ensure there will be no hard border."
Steven Farry of Alliance said: "It's very important that people are calm and measured over the coming days, this is not a perfect deal for Northern Ireland, the best situation is that we are part of the European Union.
"For those people who are trying to dramatise this, they are getting that badly wrong, they have to have a cool response to this, a rational consideration of the issues before us."
Mr Varadkar announced he would meet with the Northern Ireland parties last night. However, the DUP and UUP parties were not in attendance.
The taoiseach added that he had not spoken to DUP leader Arlene Foster yesterday but said: "The door is always open and the phone is always on."
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