Leo Varadkar dismisses suggestions of alternative arrangements to the backstop

Ireland cannot become a "backdoor" to the European Single Market after Brexit the Taoiseach has warned.

Leo Varadkar has said Ireland will be under an obligation to protect the single market if Britain crashes out of the EU in October.

Speaking after the EU Council Summit in Brussels, Mr Varadkar dismissed those in the UK talking about alternative arrangements to the backstop claiming no one had come up with a solution that will work.

Asked about the increasing possibility of a no-deal Brexit and a hard border, Mr Varadkar said: "We will have to make sure that Ireland doesn’t become the backdoor to the European Single Market, and we are going to work with the Commission on mechanisms by which we can do that.

But the only way that I can see that we can be sure that we avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is through regulatory alignment.

He added that was still where he thought "we have to end up".

Boris Johnson who is now on track take over the leadership of the Conservative party and become the next British prime minister has already said that the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement could be broken up and "the good bits of it can be taken out".

Mr Johnson has also suggested that the Northern Ireland backstop would be replaced with alternative arrangements to keep the border open.

But referring to this, Mr Varadkar said:

We can’t accept alternative arrangements to the backstop unless we can see what these alternative arrangements are, how they work and see them demonstrated.

"That hasn’t been done yet, and I don’t see it being done this side of October 31, which is why we certainly can’t accept the deletion of the backstop," said Mr Varadkar.

Asked about the next UK prime minister, Mr Varadkar pointed out that both clear frontrunner Mr Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt "actually voted for the Withdrawal Agreement" despite being strong Brexiteers.

“I think that’s certainly something worth bearing in mind. I look forward to hearing what new ideas the British Prime Minister may have as to how we could amend the political declaration."

But he remained firm that the Withdrawal Agreement is not up for further discussion and this was echoed by EU Council president Donald Tusk.

Mr Varadkar added that it would be "really up to" the UK to find any other solution to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

“Ultimately, getting something through Parliament is a domestic issue for the UK and they’re going to have to decide whether Parliament is able to ratify any deal, or potentially prevent no deal," he said.