Irish PM sees ‘landing zone’ for Brexit deal after meeting UK’s Johnson

Micheál Martin , speaking after meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said they had agreed on the absolute necessity for a tariff and quota-free trade agreement between Britain and the European Union.

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Thursday he believes there is a “landing zone” to reach a post-Brexit trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Micheal Martin. (Reuters)

Martin, speaking after meeting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said they had agreed on the absolute necessity for a tariff and quota-free trade agreement between Britain and the European Union.

“It seems to me that there is a landing zone if that will is there on both sides, and I think it is,” said Martin, who became prime minister in June.

“My own gut instinct is that there is a shared understanding that we don’t need another shock to the economic system that a sub-optimal trade agreement would give alongside of the enormous shock of Covid,” he told reporters in Belfast.