Simon Coveney on Brexit: "Everybody loses here"

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Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said he feels "sadness" as Britain leaves the European Union.

The UK will formally leave the bloc at 11.00pm Irish time on Friday.

A transition period for the UK will start on February 1st, and is set to expire at the end of December 2020.

Any agreement on the future EU-UK relationship will have to be fully concluded before that point if it is to come into force in January 2021.

Candlelit vigils are planned across Scotland, which voted to stay in the EU in the 2016 referendum.

These are aimed at sending a message to the EU to keep open a place for Scotland.

Speaking to Pat Kenny, Mr Coveney says: "My overall feeling today is one of sadness".

"A lot of my mother's family are still English and live there - I've been to university in England, I've worked in Scotland.

"In terms of the bigger picture: I think everybody loses here.

"I think Britain will lose; I think their standing in the world has been damaged and will be diminished without the solidarity that comes with EU membership.

"I think the EU will be weakened too - because Britain is a great country, it's a powerful country, it's a strong economy and it added a lot to the European Union.

"The European Union for Ireland will be quite different without the UK in it".

He says while the transition period keeps the status quo in the short-term, a lot of work still has to be done.

"Now our focus turns to the east-west relationship in terms of getting a trade deal - and a deal on whole range of other things.

"There also will need to be deals on fisheries, on energy, on transport, on aviation, on law enforcement, on data protection.

"So anybody who thinks this is a question of just agreeing 'we're starting from the same position here, so let's just keep trading with each other' - that is just nonsense."