Simon Coveney believes a change to the political declaration, could reassure those in Britain concerned about the mechanism designed to avoid a border in Ireland.

 

British MPs will vote again on Tuesday on the UK's withdrawal plan as the March 29th deadline looms.  

 

Speaking to the BBC, Minister Coveney says talk of 'games of chicken' over Brexit are unhelpful: "We have to work out these things together and stop talking about 'games of chicken'.

 

"We've had two and a half years of negotiation - we have a withdrawal agreement, we have a future relationship declaration.

 

"There are ways in resolving these issues in my view, by changing the aspirations with the future relationship declaration which, in my view, will reassure people that the backstop is never likely to be used."

 

Coveney outlined how far Ireland and Britain have come since the end of 'The Troubles' and stressed the need for cooperation in the weeks and months ahead: "We cannot and should not be proposing going back there again. And so, what I would ask people to think about is how far we've come in the last 20 years - what a peace agreement call 'The Good Friday Agreement', or 'The Belfast Agreement' or 'The 1998 Agreement' - whatever perspective you come from - what that has done for relationships between our two islands. Let's not go backwards now and cause tension," he added.  

 

Ministe Coveney echoed comments given to Sky News on Sunday by Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen McEntee, who outlined how the backstop was necessary to uphold the Good Friday Agreement.