Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has concluded his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, which he said went as well as it possibly could have.
Speaking to journalists in Rome, Mr Varadkar said Mr Conte was "very well briefed" on Brexit and understood the concerns of Ireland.
Mr Varadkar described as "reassuring", the support of Mr Conte on the issue of the border and the work of the Barnier taskforce.
The Taoiseach also confirmed that migration was discussed.
He received thanks from Mr Conte for Ireland's agreement to take migrants from boats seeking to dock in Italy.
Mr Varadkar "restated" Ireland's "commitment or offer" made to the previous Italian government that it would be willing to take 600 migrants from Italy to Ireland, if an appropriate security clearance can be agreed.
"It wasn’t possible to do that, even though we committed to it probably two years ago now, because we couldn’t agree the detail around garda vetting and security clearance," he said.
Both agreed that there must be an EU wide solution to the issue of migration.
This afternoon, Mr Varadkar will visit the headquarters of Operation Sofia, which is the EU mission in the Mediterranean including the Irish navy.
It will end a week-long trip by the Taoiseach, seeking to shore up support in European capitals as Brexit negotiations intensify.
He said that his sense from visiting his counterparts in Croatia, Romania and Italy this week was that "they very much have Ireland's back, very much understand our concerns and are very much on our side but also looking to us for solutions".
Mr Varadkar said the weeks ahead would be about ensuring that there is strong European solidarity behind Ireland, "that the 27 member states are with us" and coming up with "solutions that everyone can live with".
