Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is calling for Ireland to use the Good Friday Agreement to negotiate its way through some of the issues raised by Brexit.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Mr Ahern said he believed that when the peace deal was put together, it was never envisaged that the UK would leave the EU in the future.

Because of this, he said it puts us in a "special position".

"There is a case for us to be able to negotiate on the issues that affect us most - the border being one of them", he said. "I don't think the European Parliament would object to that,

"We have a good opportunity of using an international UN agreement, and we should use it [...] To do otherwise would be stupid of us."

On the prospect of the union breaking up, Mr Ahern predicted a "very ropey period" ahead for Scotland, and said similar dissatisfaction will be acted on in Northern Ireland

"[Nicola] Sturgeon is very unhappy. She's been consistent for six months as she has said Scotland has not voted out of the European Union, and they certainly don't want out of the trade agreements that Scotland have. I think they will push for a referendum - maybe not immediately. 

"And in Northern Ireland, that's going to be a problem as well. The devolved administrations are not all going to say this is great for them, and as time goes on we'll see a far more difficult situation than we're seeing now."