THE Irish government is persisting with preparations for a "lose, lose, lose" no deal Brexit, which taniste Simon Coveney said last night was closer than ever.
Mr Coveney said the government had worked for months with EU partners to try provide the assurances and clarifications sought by its British counterpart to secure the deal, but the heavy defeat was in line with predictions in the days running up to the vote.
He told the media: "We now need to be patient and calm to allow this process in Westminster to take its course", stressing the focus has to be on London because that is where the "crisis is and that is where the solutions need to come from".
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the vote showed the "absolute disregard for the people of Ireland, for our rights, our economy and the Good Friday Agreement that is at the heart of the Tory Brexit agenda".
"We are 17 days away from Brexit and the uncertainty and confusion continues.
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"A crash-out Brexit would be unthinkable for the peace process, jobs, trade and to the loss of people's rights and quality of life, particularly in border communities."
She called for intensification in "planning for a no-deal crash with an imperative to ensure no return to a hard border protections of our agreements and safeguarding the rights of citizens".
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood insisted "sooner or later, the British Parliament is going to have to support a backstop for Northern Ireland or else support no Brexit at all" to avoid a hard border.
"There is no happy medium between these two eventualities. The bottom line is that the backstop, aside from scrapping Brexit entirely, is our only insurance policy against a hard border."
Alliance leader Naomi Long said the backstop had been "the bottom line to protect the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland".
"We were prepared to be pragmatic towards it, but now, it seems the only paths are to see a catastrophic no deal outcome, the government working across the House of Commons to find a softer version of Brexit, or reconsidering Brexit in its entirety."
She said taking a `no deal' off the table without a clear plan "resolves nothing" with "every day of uncertainty (seeing) more and more economic and social damage".
"The clearest, most coherent and most democratic route through this impasse lies with a People's Vote, including both the prime minister's deal and the `remain' option."
