Ireland's minister hopeful of making 'big step forward' during next week summit

Optimism about an imminent breakthrough in Brexit talks reported in newspapers in recent days is "probably not well founded" and people should be realistic about time frames, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told RTE Radio on Friday.

He said, however, that he hoped negotiators would be able to make "a big step forward" next week: "The negotiating teams ... will hopefully have some political recommendations to feed political leaders early next week," he said.