Latest: Tánaiste optimistic of Brexit progress; McDonald criticises Brexiteers' 'fantastical non-starters'

Update: 5.58pm: Ireland and the EU's negotiating team are of one mind on insisting there can be no Brexit withdrawal treaty without a deal on the border, the Tánaiste has said.

Simon Coveney called again for legal certainty on maintaining a free-flowing frontier between north and south after meeting with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.