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Fianna Fáil: Taoiseach should hold back on 'bombastic' approach to Brexit talks

Fianna Fáil: Taoiseach should hold back on 'bombastic' approach to Brexit talks

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been criticised over his "bombastic" approach to the Brexit negotiations which are entering a critical phase.

British prime minister Theresa May is under mounting pressure both from the EU and her own party as the Brexit deadline looms.

At the start of the Conservative party's annual conference today, Britain's former foreign secretary Boris Johnson described Mrs May's Chequers proposals as "deranged".

She has called on party members to unite behind the plan.

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Fianna Fáil's Stephen Donnelly said it is now very unlikely that agreement on the backstop for the Irish border will be reached before the October EU Summit.

"The Taoiseach has been quiet bombastic in his megaphone diplomacy, it hasn't helped, it has been heard in Westminster.

"I would like to see the Taoiseach hold back," said Mr Donnelly.

Fianna Fáil: Taoiseach should hold back on 'bombastic' approach to Brexit talks

Junior Minister Sean Kyne said the way the British Government is now talking about the issue of the border and the Good Friday Agreement is "quite worrying".

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"Unfortunately the border was not the issue of discussion prior to the referendum and we have seen different stances within the Conservative party which is quite worrying and Theresa May has no guarantee that she can get Chequers through the parliament," he said.

"As a former member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, we had a discussion before a referendum even took place, we produced a cross-party proposal, launched it in London about the possible impacts of Brexit. Everything that we talked about at that stage nearly four years ago has come to pass and we are still discussing it," he told RTÉ's The Week in Politics show.

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