10:19

Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar is expected to face criticism in the Dail today amid opposition party fears that he may be backtracking on the Irish border “backstop”.

Fianna Fail, which is in a confidence and supply agreement with Varadkar’s Fine Gael government has claimed that his willingness to offer Theresa May a “review mechanism” will amount to a watering down of the agreement the EU struck with the UK last December and again in March over Ireland.

The party’s Brexit spokeswoman described it as a “potentially hazardous direction”. Lisa Chambers told the Irish Independent she is “very worried the backstop is not as watertight as has been previously indicated”.

All Irish opposition parties including Labour and Sinn Fein have been unified on the government’s Brexit strategy and this latest twist underlines the political consequences for the taoiseach if he falters in the final stages.

The Irish cabinet meets at 10am this morning with an oral update on Brexit expected from Varadkar and the deputy prime minister Simon Coveney, who has chief responsibility for Brexit.

They will face questions in the Dail this afternoon from opposition parties.