Helen McEntee confident EU will not compromise on Irish red lines; Brexit now 'at a crisis point'

Ms McEntee's comments come as talks between the UK and EU continue this weekend.

They are hoping to reach a deal ahead a key summit on Thursday.

Minister McEntee says, at this stage, it is too soon to say what the outcome of the talks will be.

Ms McEntee said: "I don't think there is a possibility that we will be landed with something that we don't want, at the same time that doesn't mean we are going to have a deal by the end of this weekend."

Calling for space and time to be given to negotiating teams, Ms McEntee said there is still a big concern that there could be a "deal on the table, something that has been agreed by both sides" but which would still not get past the House of Commons.

"I think we need to allow them the time and space and not comment too much on what may or may not be coming out of them."

However, the lack of detail emerging from renewed Brexit talks should be seen as "a positive sign" Ms McEntee has said.

"The fact that we haven't seen very much come out of the negotiations. I would hope that's a positive sign but, you know, I think we need to be very cautious here as well.

"We've been in this position before we've obviously not gotten past at the House of Commons so we need to make sure that what we have agreed is agreeable not just to the House of Commons but also to the EU 27 as well," she told RTÉ's The Week in Politics.

Asked about reports that crisis management exports have now been drafted in by the Government to deal with the fallout here from Brexit, Ms McEntee said preparations have been ongoing since the 2016 referendum in the UK.

"At the moment we're at a crisis point and that we've now enforced a budget which is basically no-deal scenario so I don't think you can get any more severe than that but our entire focus has been on how do we crisis manage this, based on the fact that we don't know what the actual outcomes is going to be."

It comes as Fianna Fáil says the Government is refusing to provide clarity on plans for checks in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The party's spokesperson on Brexit, Lisa Chambers, said: “While I appreciate tunnel discussions are taking place there can be no room for tunnel vision. We are less than three weeks away from a potential no deal Brexit and the Government is still refusing to provide clarity on checks in the event of a no deal Brexit.

“In his response to me the Tánaiste has stated that the Government is in discussions with the EU Commission about what Ireland will need to do to protect the integrity of the single market in the event of a no deal Brexit but that no decisions have been made as of yet.

“We recently learned that the Government have called in crisis management specialists to help deal with no-deal crisis. This should have been done months ago. If systems are found lacking and changes are needed, where is the time to implement these changes?"

“In my view, it is not credible, with less than three weeks to go, that the Government still don’t know what it will do about the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, or that they are just beginning worst scenario planning.

“It is time the Government levelled with citizens and business and told us what the plan is. The Taoiseach has said that there will be no sudden changes and a grace period if checks have to be implemented we have no clarity on what that actually means or how long the grace period will be. The lack of information is only serving to fuel uncertainty and anxiety particularly in the border region.

“Fianna Fáil is encouraged by recent developments and we are of course hopeful that an agreement can be reached. But we have been here before and there are considerable gaps to bridge. We must be ready,” concluded Deputy Chambers.