Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says optimism about an imminent breakthrough in Brexit talks is “probably not well founded,” and that the public should be realistic about time frames defined in negotiations between Britain and the European Union.
“I think that the optimism that we have read about in newspapers in recent days is probably not well founded. Nothing has been agreed yet,” Coveney told Ireland’s RTE radio on Friday.
“There is very intensive efforts now to try and find the combinations for each other in terms of the two negotiating teams. But as I say we shouldn’t draw any conclusions from that. We don’t have any agreement yet. And I think we need to be realistic about time frames,” he added.
The Irish foreign minister said, however, that he hoped Brexit negotiators would be able to make a “big step forward” ahead of the EU summit in Brussels on October 18.
“The negotiating teams are hard at it this week and will probably be…