EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan is warning that Ireland should focus on new relationships with European partners when it comes to Brexit talks.
He believes Ireland's interests in the negotiations could be hit by concentrating too much on the relationship with the UK.
Writing in The Irish Times, he says it would be an 'enormous mistake' to allow our relationship with Europe to be defined by our relationship with the UK
He suggests: "It would be a fundamental error on our part to place an excessive reliance on our bilateral relationship with the UK as the best means of ensuring that Ireland’s strategic interests are best protected in the Brexit discussions. While none of us desired Brexit, it is a reality that we now have to face.
"Unwittingly, Brexit may present Ireland with the chance to seize the next phase in our development and maturity as a sovereign state."
Meanwhile, he told The Irish Independent that "clearly, Brexit is a mess and getting messier".
He also said that the EU will likely be looking to safeguard the Northern Irish peace process.
"The European Commission has a vested interest in protecting the Good Friday Agreement and the success it has been in bringing peace to the island of Ireland since 1998," he suggested.
