Issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol are "unlikely to be resolved" before the Stormont elections, the Taoiseach has said.
Micheál Martin urged that channels of communication remain open between the UK and EU on efforts to solve the impasse.
He said he did not discuss with Prime Minister Boris Johnson the collapse of the Stormont Executive, but about the broader need for stability, adding "this will be an issue that we will return to".
Northern Ireland's First Minister Paul Givan resigned earlier this year as part of a DUP protest against the protocol.
This resulted in the Executive not being able to fully function and unable to pass the planned multi-year budget.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said on Friday that his party would not re-enter the Stormont Executive until the UK government acts to "protect Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom".
The Taoiseach and Prime Minister appeared to take different views of their meeting yesterday.
Mr Johnson told Mr Martin "significant changes" are still needed with the protocol - after Mr Martin said there is an increasing view that it is working.
Asked about the stances, Mr Martin responded: "It's fair to say we've had different perspectives on this for quite some time.
"I did make the point to him when I speak to industrialists or business people in the north, nobody wants to cut off access to the European single market because it is advantageous to various sectors of the Northern Ireland economy."
He said both agreed that the negotiation process between European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, and Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, should be pursued, adding "we support the resolution of this".
"Already the European Union has put forward proposals that present a significant change to how the protocol would operate.
"That's already happened in respect of proposals that have been made and Europe has displayed very significant good will towards resolving this and that good will maintains."
However, the Taoiseach said he does not believe issues around the protocol will be resolved before the Stormont Assembly elections in May.
"There are elections coming in May in Northern Ireland. In my view we should keep the channels going," he told the BBC.
"I am not of a view they will (things change before the election). I think we should concentrate on our response to Ukraine.
"Progress has been made despite what you may hear. There has been a lot of positions put forward by the European Union that would reduce the levels of checks.
"I would say that Maroš Šefčovič has put forward a lot of sensible compromises and their mindset is really to work to resolve this, and I believe the Foreign Secretary is in a similar mode of thought."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs said the focus in Ireland must be on stability and compromise, and calling for a border poll now does not help anyone.
"I say that as someone who would like to see reunification on this island," Simon Coveney told RTÉ's This Week.
"But also as somebody who is trying to resolve the issues of the Northern Ireland Protocol and ensure that the institutions of Northern Ireland survive this period of polarised talks."
Mr Coveney said there is no functioning Executive in the north currently, and no north/south cooperation.
He said that Sinn Féin's call for a border poll in the midst of this uncertainty is not helpful, but also not surprising.
