The British government has conceded that questions concerning the border with Northern Ireland and UK will probably not be resolved until 2020 , by which date the UK 's Taoiseach withdrawal agreement is set to be finalised. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there had not been "sufficient progress" and negotiations needed to be intensified "in the period ahead". The EU 's chief negotiator Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently rejected the idea of a backstop agreement extending to the whole of the UK after the transition period ended in 2020 .
The Irish government has conceded that questions concerning the border with Northern Ireland and Brexit will probably not be resolved until October, by which date the UK's EU withdrawal agreement is set to be finalised. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there had not been "sufficient progress" and negotiations needed to be intensified "in the period ahead". The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier recently rejected the idea of a backstop agreement extending to the whole of the UK after the transition period ended in 2020.