Brexit deal will minimise short-term economy hit - Irish finance minister

The Brexit deal struck by Britain and the rest of the European Union will minimize much of Brexit's short-term impact on the economies of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Thursday. "There is no form of Brexit that is as good as the United Kingdom deciding to stay in the European Union, but we respect the views of the British people," Donohoe told reporters.

"I do believe that this deal is ratified and put in place, will minimize many of the short-term impacts on the Irish economy and on the all-Ireland economy." The longer-term consequences of Brexit on Ireland would only be clear once the future trading relationship between Britain and the EU is hammered out, he said.

Donohoe spoke before giving a speech at the Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington where he was attending meetings of the International Monetary Fund. Earlier on Thursday, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party said it could not support the Brexit deal struck by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the EU, putting it in jeopardy.