Time is running out to stop Britain crashing out of the EU, the Tanaiste has claimed.
Simon Coveney also revealed that the UK still hasn’t come up with a credible plan or any kind of alternative to the controversial Northern Ireland backstop.
The Tanaiste was speaking in Brussels after a meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier.
Mr Coveney said: “Until there is a serious proposal, which can be the basis of negotiations, then the gaps which are wide at the moment will remain.”
“Time is running out and the onus is on the British prime minister and his team "to put serious proposals on the table”.
Minister Coveney said that Mr Barnier and his negotiating team are available around-the-clock if the British want to talk.
He also said that this country would be in favour of granting the UK an extension to the looming October 31 deadline.
He added: “From an Irish perspective, we of course think that an extension is preferable to a no-deal. But I think there would have to be good reason behind that to ask for an extension.”
Separately President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said that he and Mr Barnier are doing all they can to get a Brexit deal, and if they fail it would be Britain’s responsibility.
Mr Barnier also stressed to British Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay that the Withdrawal Agreement must include a solution to prevent a hard border.
The pair met in Brussels yesterday and afterwards the European Commission said: “Michel Barnier stressed that it is essential that there is a fully operational solution in the Withdrawal Agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, protect the all-island economy and the integrity of the Single Market.
“The EU remains open and willing to examine any workable and legally operative proposals that meet all these objectives.”
Separately, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker told German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine
that he and Michel Barnier are doing everything in their power to get a deal.
He claimed it would be catastrophic if the UK crashed out without a deal.
He added: “Our chief negotiator Michel Barnier and I are doing everything possible to get an agreement.
“But if we don’t succeed in the end, the responsibility would lie exclusively on the British side.”
He said that if Britain leaves without an agreement it would be much more difficult to reach future agreements.
He said: “We will want to and need to seal a free trade agreement.
“But that won’t happen just like that, as some in Britain imagine. Some of the trade deals we sealed in my term of office took many years to reach.”
