Time is running out.
The deadline to Brexit is ticking closer as we’re now less than 40 days until the UK will leave the European Union.
On Monday evening, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney expressed his and Ireland’s frustration at the lack of progress in the talks between the EU and the UK and stated that lack of clarity from the UK is causing the delay.
Coveney was in Brussels for a meeting EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
“Yes, there is frustration in Ireland,” Coveney said according to The Guardian. “We have less than 40 days to go to until the United Kingdom is formally leaving the European Union and we still don’t know what the British government is actually asking for to actually get this deal ratified. So, yes, there is frustration.”
He stated the British government needed to be reasonable in their demands and reiterated that there can be no change to the backstop. He also said that Ireland would not be steamrolled in the last few weeks of the Brexit talks.
“We can’t either support a time limit to the backstop because – unless you can answer the question what happens after that set period of time – we are just kicking the issue further down the road without answers.
“A backstop with a set time limit isn’t a backstop at all. We all want it to be temporary but it has to be replaced by something that is credible and tested,” Coveney said.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
