Irish PM to meet UK PM Tuesday, "won’t accept halfway house"

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar is to meet British counterpart Boris Johnson in New York on Tuesday, and said on Monday he would not accept "any halfway house" short of legally binding assurances on the Irish border, Irish media reported.

Varadkar told journalists his message for Johnson "is the message (that it has been) all along: the bottom line is that we need a legally binding assurance of no hard border, and the all-island economy can continue ... we won't accept any halfway house," Virgin TV News reporter Gavan Reilly tweeted.

The Irish state broadcaster RTE also reported that Varadkar had said he would tell Johnson he would not accept a "halfway house".