Coveney: Liam Fox’s comments ‘unhelpful’

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has strongly rejected British government claims that the UK is being “blackmailed” by Ireland and the other EU countries in ongoing Brexit talks.

Mr Coveney said such comments from British minister Liam Fox were “unhelpful” and said that while talks between the EU and the UK last week were “very difficult” he said he welcomed the progress made on Irish issues.

Mr Coveney said he and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar deliberately hardened the position of the Government about the prospects of technology being used to monitor traffic moving between the Republic and Northern Ireland, saying it was “nonsense”.