BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ireland’s envoy to the European Union told a meeting of the bloc’s 27 national ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday that Dublin was on board with the existing draft Brexit deal, diplomatic sources said.

People familiar with the discussions, which ended before any word from London on whether the fractious government would accept the draft, said envoys had not themselves seen the text.

Ireland’s goal of a “backstop” guarantee on future trade relations that would avoid a “hard border” with the troubled British province of Northern Ireland had been the clear objective of the European Commission’s negotiators.