Ireland and the UK “really are in trouble” if a post-Brexit trade deal is not done within the next ten days.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said the trade talks are now ‘very much in the end game” – with two major issues to iron out.

Talks have resumed in London this morning with negotiators aiming to find agreement on the level playing field and fishing rights.

Minister Coveney said he still expects a deal to be done.

Post-Brexit trade

“That has been my prediction for a while but I won’t be shocked if it all falls apart,” he said. “This has been a very volatile and very difficult process – four and half years now.

“We know how difficult it was to get a Withdrawal Agreement and an exit treaty if you like this time last year.

“There was a lot of stand-offs and grandstanding quite frankly before that eventually happened and we’re going through a similar process now.

“We have got to find a way of getting the same result – which is an agreement between the two sides.

“But we really are in the last week to ten days of this. If there is not a major breakthrough over the next week to ten days, then I think we really are in trouble and the focus, I think, will start to shift to preparing for a no trade deal and all that brings.

“All the disruption, all the cost, all the delay, all the political tension that flows from that between the EU and the UK.

“That is not a welcome outcome from an Irish perspective but I am hopeful we can find a way through here because the cost of failure is so high – particularly for Britain but also for Ireland.”

Transition period

Minister Coveney noted that there are only 40 days left in the transition period – and any deal will have to be ratified by Westminster, the European Parliament and Member states.

He said there are now “two big obstacles” to getting a future relationship agreement.

“One is ensuring fair competition between the two sides and a governance model that can ensure that is enforced in the future,” he said.

“Then the second, of course, is fishing which is highly emotive and very political. That is why it is very, very difficult to get a deal done there – because the two sides’ starting position is so far apart.”

He said all sides “owe it to so many people” to find an agreement and insisted that will be possible in the coming days.