Government won't 'sugarcoat' effect of no-deal Brexit, Tánaiste says

Checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland will be "temporary" if Britian crashes out of the EU, the Tánaiste has said.

Speaking as he arrived at the Fine Gael think-in in Ballycotton, Co Cork, Simon Coveney said the Government will not "sugarcoat" the impact a no-deal Brexit will have here.

Mr Coveney said he wasn't annoyed by the stark warnings around food supply and travel made by the Taoiseach recently as he said he was simply "telling people the truth".

"In the context of a no deal, we will face some challenges and disruption and we need to prepare for that in terms of contingency.

I think the most important thing that this government needs to do is we need to level with people in terms of what a no-deal Brexit actually means.

"We shouldn't be sugarcoating anything and what we have said is that in that scenario, we would be forced to protect Ireland's place in the EU's single market by having some checking system somewhere away from the border that can reassure the rest of the European Union that Ireland's place in the single market is protected and that the integrity of the market that we all enjoy will be protected too," he said.

Speaking about the need for customs and other checks, which Mr Coveney insisted would be away from the border, he said: "The one thing I'd say about that is that we don't regard those checks that may be needed in a no-deal scenario as a permanent arrangement, Not by a long shot.

"It is a temporary arrangement to protect our place in the single market, while we continue to negotiate for the kind of arrangement on the Irish border that the British government has committed to in the past in writing to Ireland," he said.