FILE PHOTO: Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (Taoiseach) speaks during a news conference in Brussels, Belgium February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has told Cabinet colleagues that a delay of Britain’s exit date from the European Union from March 29 to June is “very likely”, Ireland’s Sunday Independent quoted an unnamed minister as saying.

“The Taoiseach (prime minister) has privately said to us that it is very likely there will be an extension until June,” the minister was quoted as saying.

An Irish government spokesman declined to comment on the veracity of the report but said the Cabinet’s focus was “solely on securing a deal” and pointed to a comment by Varadkar on Friday in which he said a British exit on March 29 without either a deal or an extension was unlikely.