He held a press conference on Monday evening…
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has suggested that a deal had been agreed with the UK over the Irish border this morning but that the UK then backtracked on the agreement.
Varadkar said that he was “surprised and disappointed” that the UK could not sign off on the border deal.
“The responsibility of any prime minister is to ensure that they can follow through on agreements that they make and we are surprised and disappointed that they haven’t been able to,” Varadkar said.
He reiterated that Ireland is eager to move onto phase 2, but that they cannot do this without a commitment that there would be no border.
When quizzed about how the deal broke down, the Taoiseach said that it would not be helpful for him to ascribe blame to any party.
Varadkar was questioned on whether or not the DUP were on side for the deal, to which he said it was never his job to square the deal, and that he had been negotiating with the EU and London. He reiterated his belief that Theresa May is negotiating in good faith and he thinks there is still time to agree a deal.
Speaking on the deal that was provisionally agreed this morning and the possibility of changes to the text of the agreement, Varadkar said that he has not received any requests for changes that would change the meaning. He said he does not see any reason to change the text that was agreed.
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