Irish and British leaders meet amid Brexit talks

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar met with his British counterpart Theresa May in London on Monday (September 25) for talks which are expected to focus heavily on Brexit.

Varadkar said it was not possible to say that Britain had made sufficient progress to move onto the next phase of Brexit talks with the European Union, adding there was a "bit of a way to go yet."

"When it comes to making a recommendation as to whether sufficient progress has been made, it's too early to say. That's a decision that will be made by the 27 prime ministers including me when we meet in Brussels in October," Varadkar said after a meeting with May.

Varadkar said he did not believe there would be any advantage in having another election in Northern Ireland to solve an impasse in the British province after a power-sharing coalition collapsed in January.

Border dispute

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, also emphasised the sensitivity of the invisible border between the two entities given the decades of violence in Northern Ireland over whether it should be part of Britain or Ireland.

In an interview with the BBC on September 20, the coordinator said the United Kingdom must find a solution to the future border agreement between Northern Ireland and Ireland since the issue is a key part of negotiations to leave the EU.

Both May and Varadkar said it was important to find a solution to the border issue and reiterated their desire to avoid a hard border.

One of the trickiest issues brought up by Britain leaving the EU is how it will affect the currently seamless movement of people and goods between the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU member, and British-ruled Northern Ireland.

Some 30,000 people make the crossing each day and businesses from farming to brewing depend on easy movement of goods between the north and south.

Britain said last month that there should be no border posts or immigration checks along the 500 km (300 miles) frontier after Brexit. While Brussels and Dublin also say they want to keep an open border, they say Britain has failed to explain how it would square this with its stated intention to leave the EU's customs union.

EU and British Brexit Negotiators

Britain will honour its financial commitments made during its membership of the European Union after it leaves the EU, but that deal must be linked to an agreement on future economic ties, Britain's chief Brexit negotiator and Secretary of State David Davis said.

Speaking to reporters at the start of the fourth round of divorce negotiations between London and the EU, Davis said it would take pragmatism on both sides to reach an agreement.

"The UK will honour commitments we have made during the period of our membership, but it is obvious that reaching a conclusion on this issue can only be done in the context of and in accordance with a new deep and special partnership with the European Union," he said.

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier made clear, however, he saw the sequence differently. Britain and the EU would first have to agree on citizens' rights, a financial settlement and the relationship between Ireland and Northern Ireland before a future EU-UK relationship can be discussed.

"Real progress on three main issues - citizens, Ireland, financial settlement - is essential to move to the discussion on transition and on the future (relationship). These are separate issues," Barnier told reporters.

Heading for a meeting with British chief negotiator David Davis to start a fourth round of divorce negotiations, Barnier said he expected London to translate the proposals made by May in her speech into formal negotiating positions.

PM May's plan for Brexit

Speaking in the city of Florence on Friday, Prime Minister May said that the government was aware there were unique issues to consider when it came to Northern Ireland. In order to protect progress made in Northern Ireland, May underscored that the UK government and the EU are “committed to protecting the Belfast Agreement and the Common Travel Area” and “will not accept any physical infrastructure at the border.” 

“We owe it to the people of Northern Ireland – and indeed to everyone on the island of Ireland - to see through these commitments.”