The Tánaiste has said he believes the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his negotiating team know "only too well" what they need to do to get a deal on Brexit.

However, Simon Coveney said that what they have produced so far has not even come close to what is required.

Mr Coveney said he is hopeful there will be a significant change on the part of the British negotiating team this week, and that they will deliver serious and credible proposals in writing which can form the basis for intense negotiations.

He said he was hopeful of getting those written proposals after the Conservative Party conference, which is taking place in Manchester this week.

The Tánaiste warned that the time for doing a deal was running out and any agreement would effectively have to be achieved within the next fortnight.

Speaking this afternoon in Cork, he said he did not mind whether the British government's proposals are published or whether they are presented privately to the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his team.

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On speculation relating to the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, Mr Coveney said the Government here is working quietly to get Stormont up and running again.

He said, given the uncertainty and chaos that could potentially flow from a no-deal Brexit, the idea that Northern Ireland would not have its own government led by politicians who were elected there would be an extraordinary failure of political leadership.

Mr Coveney said he believes the restoration of devolved government in the North is "doable", but that ultimately it was up to the parties there to deliver it.