CORRESPONDENCE between Irish government officials and the British Embassy in Dublin in the run-up to the Brexit referendum shows there was little anticipation of or preparation for a Leave vote.
The correspondence, which is heavily redacted in parts, has been seen by The Irish News after being released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
It covers all exchanges between the office of the former British Ambassador in Dublin, Dominick Chilcott, and Irish government officials between January and June this year.
Northern Ireland, and the potential impact of Brexit on the border, is not mentioned at any stage in the correspondence.
In January, an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin wrote: "I met with (unnamed) on Friday for a background chat, with some focus on Brexit."
In February, the British Embassy sought assistance in getting a letter from Prime Minister David Cameron to Taoiseach Enda Kenny regarding the EU reform negotiations, which ultimately led to the June referendum.
A week later the two sides discussed arrangements for future meetings between respective ministers.
Mr Chilcott wrote: "I am not aware of plans for meetings between Ms Villiers and Mr Flanagan. But I guess these will come back into play once the shape of the next government here comes into more focus?"
An official from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin replied: "I suspect there won't be many confirmed meetings due to our election but I'll find out."
In April, Mr Chilcott told a conference at University College Cork of his fears for the island of Ireland if Britain voted to leave the EU, describing the prospect of a return of border controls as "a tremendously regressive step."
"My fear for this relationship is that without seeing each other regularly in Brussels every working day and week and month, we would drift apart and there would be a risk, perhaps, of some of the old kind of wariness and suspicions that can poison a relationship creeping back in."
On June 2, three weeks before the referendum, an email was shared - although the sender and recipient's identity are both redacted - of a link to a video by the European Movement UK, encouraging Irish citizens living in Britain to vote Remain in the referendum.
In the FOI response, the Foreign Office said that some of the information would be exempt from publication as it relates to "confidential government to government discussion."
