A Longford Westmeath Minister says it's very important to grasp the "very narrow window of opportunity" when it comes to talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Peter Burke was speaking in Brussels ahead of an EU General Affairs Council meeting, at which Ukraine and energy will be up for discussion.
The Minister for European Affairs says this is a sensitive time for protocol talks, and it's important to give the negotiating teams space.
'The protocol issue has been going on a significant period of time.
We really need a situation whereby we can work on the future relationship.
We don't want European council meetings, or the landscape of Europe to be dominated by Brexit , and we have seen an erosion of that over the past number of weeks, where we're really getting on to dealing with pressing issues within the European Union which are so important to the functioning of it.'
