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Simon Coveney signals two weeks to get a Brexit deal

Simon Coveney speaking in Cork yesterday
Simon Coveney speaking in Cork yesterday Simon Coveney speaking in Cork yesterday

SIMON Coveney has said he is hopeful that the British government can this week table credible proposals for tackling the vexed issue of the border but he warned that a deal with the EU would have to be secured within the next fortnight.

The tanáiste said Boris Johnson and his negotiating team knew "only too well" what was required to get a deal but so far their proposals had fallen well short.

The British prime minister has pushed to have the backstop removed "whole and entire" before a Withdrawal Agreement can be signed off.

The Fine Gael deputy leader voiced hope that the British would put forward written proposals after the Tory party conference but he warned that "time is short" and that any deal would need to be reached by the middle of the month.

"If there is going to be a deal done it needs to be done effectively in the next two weeks," he said.

"So, I hope we will see a serious paper coming from the British government – we have to see that yet."

He said the UK proposals could be published or presented privately to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier

"I believe the UK wants and needs a deal and the EU wants that too but I also think that Boris Johnson and his team know only too well what they need to do to get a deal," the tanáiste said.

"They have not even come close to getting into that space yet but I am hopeful that could change."

DUP leader Arlene Foster yesterday told a Tory conference fringe event that her party wanted a Brexit deal.

"But to get a deal there needs to be willingness on both sides – I believe that the prime minister wants to get a deal that works for the whole of the UK," she said.

"This prime minister will not be leaving Northern Ireland behind in the European Union customs union."

Sinn Féin MP Elisha McCallion responded to Mrs Foster's comments by insisting the DUP "do not represent the majority of people in the north who oppose Brexit".

“Our businesses want a deal, our farmers want a deal, our manufacturers want a deal, our workers want a deal and our community and voluntary organisations want a deal – Ireland cannot be collateral damage in the Tory-DUP Brexit," the Foyle representative said.

British government officials have indicated that negotiations with the EU are expected to take place later this week.

"We sent a further paper to the EU at the end of last week," a spokesman for Mr Johnson said.

"In terms of formal proposals, we will put those forward when we are ready to do so."

The much-mooted all-Ireland veterinary and phytosanitary zone (SPS zone) to allow livestock and other natural goods to move across the border without the need for checks is understood to be one of the main planks of the UK proposals.

It would effectively create a border down the Irish Sea, meaning certain goods entering and leaving Ireland for Britain would require a level of inspection.