Irish foreign minister says Brexit deal can be done

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney on Wednesday said he believed a trade deal can be done between Britain and the European Union and said optimism had increased in recent weeks.

“I think there is some more optimism now than there was a few weeks ago,” Coveney told a parliamentary committee.

A recent phone call between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “was helpful in terms of reinforcing the message that a deal can be done and I would reinforce that message again here today”, he said.

Earlier, Britain’s trade minister Liz Truss said a deal with the European Union over the pair’s future trading relationship is “do-able” as the end of a transition period approaches.

“A deal is absolutely do-able. We know the type of deal we want, it’s the deal that Canada has with the EU,” Truss told BBC radio.