The Taoiseach will join EU leaders for a vital European Council summit in Brussels today.
The negotiations with the UK on a trade agreement will be top of the agenda.
Micheál Martin and European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne will join a host of EU leaders at this eagerly awaited two-day summit.
Boris Johnson had set today as the deadline for a Brexit trade deal to be agreed, while the EU’s deadline is the end of this month.
European Council President Charles Michel will take part in a discussion about the trade talks with Britain this evening.
The Taoiseach says the EU wants a positive outcome to the negotiations, but a deal can’t come at any price.
He says there are still issues to be resolved, and time is running out.
Former Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald is a Fine Gael MEP for Dublin and says “This is yet another crunch meeting and there’s been quite a number of them but time is growing short, a no-deal outcome is in no-one’s interests in the period ahead and Ireland will continue to support the EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and to work as part of the EU 2027 to ensure a collective approach to these negotiations reflects our values & our interests”.
EU leaders will also discuss the Covid crisis today, along with climate change and the EU’s upcoming meeting with African Union leaders.
