Taoiseach: Brexit deal is possible before Friday

Ministers are confident an alternative Brexit deal can be agreed if British prime minister Boris Johnson is willing to drop his red lines around custom checks in the coming days.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is likely to meet Mr Johnson this week, possibly in Dublin, but the bones of an agreement need to be ready for EU leaders by the weekend.

Cabinet members now believe an agreement could be hammered out around Mr Johnson’s alternative Brexit plan, senior Government sources say.

A major stumbling block is that Mr Johnson’s plans would see the North apply EU rules on goods, but stay in a customs territory with Britain. This would create a regulatory barrier for goods crossing the Irish Sea, as well as a customs border between the North and south.

The second issue is this arrangement would in turn be voted on by the North’s Assembly every four years, a position that gives a party an ultimate veto.

Mr Varadkar said on the weekend at a Fine Gael event in Dublin that he would meet Mr Johnson this week. He also said this Friday was a “reasonable” deadline for any legal text that will need to be circulated to EU leaders ahead of an EU summit next week.

He added: “I think a deal is still possible... It is possible at the European Council summit in two weeks’ time, but the current position as of today is the European Union, including Ireland, doesn’t feel that the proposals put forward by Prime Minister Johnson yet form the basis for deeper negotiations.”

There were signs yesterday that British government may be willing to compromise further.

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay told the BBC: “So the key is the principle of consent [of the Assumbly], now of course in the mechanism, as part of the intensive negotiations we could look at that and discuss that.”

Regarding customs, Mr Barclay said it was worth looking at what objections the EU has.

Mr Johnson has also urged Brussels to “grasp the opportunity” his new Brexit proposal provides, as he repeated his vow that Britain will pack its bags and walk out on October 31.

Writing in newspapers, he added: “If we’re to leave with a deal, we now need the EU to jump over from its side and join us there, showing its own willingness to do a deal that the UK parliament can support.”

However, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier reportedly told an event in Paris: “If they do not change, I do not believe, on the basis of the mandate I have been given by the EU27, that we can advance.”