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Tánaiste Simon Coveney made the comments during a BBC interview on Sunday, after allegations were raised that the issue of the Irish border was being used as a deliberate ploy by the EU to delay negotiations.
Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Tánaiste Coveney said: “There is no desire, I can tell you, in Ireland, to delay this process.
“But at the same time, we have a responsibility as a Government to represent the interests on the island of Ireland.
“We believe that, as an island, Ireland is uniquely vulnerable and exposed to a potential bad outcome from Brexit.
“That is why we are looking for more progress than we have.”
Some commentators in the UK speculated that the EU was using Ireland as a negotiating chip, after a meeting between European Council President Donald Tusk and An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar concluded with President Tusk announcing: ”The Irish request is the EU’s request.”
President Tusk also stated that the EU was fully behind the Republic of Ireland’s demand for no hard border to be introduced post-Brexit.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said the UK will not remain in the single customs union after Brexit, which would make the introduction of a hard border with customs checks between the north and south of Ireland almost inevitable.
The second phase
Monday 4 December will see one of the most crucial meetings between Prime Minister May and the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The meeting will review how much progress the UK has made in the first stage of negotiations on three core issues of citizens’ rights, the divorce bill and the future of the Irish border.
Last week it was reported that the UK had reached a £50bn divorce settlement with the EU. However, the UK cannot progress to the second phase of negotiations, which will encompass future trade relations, until it deals with all three issues in phase one.
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