18:12

The Irish government had said the Democratic Unionist Party will not decide the future of Northern Ireland in Brexit negotiations.

Foreign minister Simon Coveney told reporters in Brussels on Monday that its future is far too important to be left to any one party.

“We respect the views of the DUP, but we respect the views of other parties in Northern Ireland. No one party should have the only say,” he said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

That is not how a decision as fundamental and as important to Ireland’s future and Britain’s future should be made. I don’t accept that the options should be limited on the basis of the political arithmetic in the House of Commons.

Illuminating the potential for the Irish question to turn into a Brexit roadblock, Coveney said that those who thought the Irish border question could simply be pushed into the second phase of Brexit talks were mistaken.

“Some people hoped that Ireland and the EU task force would simply allow this issue to drift into phase two in the hope that it would be resolved through some form of trade agreement or trade partnership agreement in the future,” he said. He added that this was “not a viable proposal”.

The EU has indicated that short of a fresh solution from the British government, it sees the best way to achieve an invisible border in Ireland was for Northern Ireland to stay in the Customs Union and the single market, something the DUP has said it will oppose.

This was seen in some quarters as a bid by the EU give Northern Ireland “Hong Kong style” autonomy.

Brexit secretary David Davis rejected this on Friday saying the government would not accept anything that would undermine the constitutional integrity of Northern Ireland.

Coveney said he did not believe reports at the weekend that British officials were “horrified” by this proposal. He said: