Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said he hopes that the incoming British Prime Minister can take an "innovative" approach to a declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the EU in way that could overcome the current impasse on Brexit.
Speaking in Cork, the Minister for Foreign Affairs said the EU Withdrawal Agreement "is fair and balanced and is not going to change".
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However, he added: "There are other things that can change, namely the ambition in the future relationship declaration between the EU and UK that I hope the new British Prime Minister will look at it in an innovative way to try to get past this impasse and to move the Brexit process forward."
Mr Coveney said Ireland is in a "vulnerable and exposed position" and his job is to protect Ireland's interests in the Brexit process:
"We will work with whoever the British Prime Minister is, we need to work with them and we need to find a way in the coming weeks of avoiding a no-deal Brexit which will damage everybody's interests - Irish, British EU interests. Nobody wins in a no-deal situation."
Mr Coveney said Boris Johnson is a "very intelligent man" who he knows reasonably well and that he believes he does understand the issues facing Northern Ireland.
"It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that Northern Ireland remains a big priority," he said. "We are all working together to try to ensure that we get the devolved institutions up and running again and I think a new British Prime Minister will be committed to that too."
He said we will have to "wait and see" if the new prime minister negotiates an update of the confidence and supply deal with the DUP, but "that is a matter for the two parties, it is not a matter for us".
