The Republic could pay for Northern Ireland to be an associate member of the European Union, Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael MEP, has suggested.

Mr Hayes said the Republic should be willing to pay Northern Ireland’s entire EU budget, likely costing hundreds of millions of euros a year.

Speaking in Brussels at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr Hayes said that an associate membership of the EU might be negotiable for Northern Ireland if the Republic pays its budget contribution to sell the deal to both unionists and EU officials.

He suggested that arguments for the region having free trade are similar to those of Gibraltar, the British territory that has a land border with Spain, an EU country.

“Both land borders represent