FILE PHOTO: Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney speaks during a news conference in Dublin, Ireland, April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is not aware that Britain has yet tabled its planned formal new “backstop” proposal on how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland but hopes to see it over the next week or so, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday.

An EU source close to talks told Reuters on Thursday that the new British proposals for avoiding extensive border checks after Brexit were “a step in the right direction” and “make finding a compromise possible”

“I’m not aware that the British side has tabled any formal new proposal yet but the British Prime Minister has certainly committed to doing that,” Coveney told parliament.