FILE PHOTO: Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) and Defence Minister Leo Varadkar looks on during the ASEM leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s prime minister said talks due to start on Thursday to potentially extend a government cooperation deal with the main opposition party could be finalised quickly.

“If there is goodwill and good engagement on both sides, I’m sure we could agree within a couple of weeks on an extension of this government to 2020,” Leo Varadkar told an event in Dublin.