A priest has presented Irish PM Leo Varadkar with a bottle of holy water, much to the amusement of bystanders, a gift intended to give a bit of “added protection” ahead of his scheduled meeting with UK premier Boris Johnson.

Taoiseach (prime minister) Varadkar looked on as the priest blessed a refurbished runway with holy water at Ireland West Airport in County Mayo on Friday, before directly addressing the Irish PM, with media and various bystanders in attendance.

That holy water exchange in full: Jokingly given holy water to take to his next meeting with Boris Johnson, Leo Varadkar asked: “Do I throw it over him?” #Brexitpic.twitter.com/kKBduAVyaZ — David Blevins (@skydavidblevins) September 20, 2019

“Taoiseach I know that you’re going to New York next week and meeting Boris Johnson,” the priest told Varadkar, before handing him a bottle of holy water and adding:

A small little bit of added… added protection for you.

The gesture prompted howls of laughter from the assembled media and a number of observers, before the Irish PM, jokingly asked: “Do I throw it over him?”

Varadkar and Johnson will meet in New York next week, primarily to attend the UN Climate Action Summit. However, the thorny issue of Brexit is sure to dominate much of the interactions between the two leaders, with the Taoiseach insisting he will use that time to try and get a deal with Johnson.

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Last week in Dublin, the pair had their first meeting since Johnson became the prime minister in July. Their discussions then were described as positive, but Varadkar warned Johnson that there was “no such thing as a clean break,” insisting that such a scenario would lead to “severe disruption” for both British and Irish people.

It comes as Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney rubbished what he called “spin” over Brexit ‘progress’ and called on all sides to be honest that “we are not close to a deal right now.”

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