Coveney says no serious backstop alternative from UK. Simon Coveney was speaking after meeting the EU's Michel Barnier.
The UK has yet to provide an EU task force with a "serious proposal" on alternatives to the backstop, Ireland's deputy prime minister has said.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney was speaking after meeting the EU's chief negotiator on Brexit, Michel Barnier, in Brussels on Friday.
Mr Coveney said "significant gaps" remain between the two sides.
However, he added that Mr Barnier and his team are "available 24/7 to negotiate to try and get a deal done".
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Asked about the possibility of the UK being granted an extension to the 31 October Brexit deadline, he said the focus now is on "trying to get a deal, quite frankly".
"From an Irish perspective, we of course think that an extension is preferable to a no-deal. But I think there would have to be good reason behind that to ask for an extension."
Mr Coveney added: "Until there is a serious proposal, which can be the basis of negotiations, then the gaps which are wide at the moment will remain."
He said "time is running out" and that "the onus is on the British prime minister and his team" to put "serious proposals on the table".
'Significant obstacles'
President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has said that he and Mr Barnier are doing all they can to get a Brexit deal, and if they fail it would be Britain's responsibility.
In an interview with German newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine, Mr Juncker said he and Mr Barnier were working intensively for a deal, because it would be a catastrophe for Britain and Europe if Britain left the EU without an organised withdrawal process.
"Our chief negotiator Michel Barnier and I are doing everything possible to get an agreement."
"But if we don't succeed in the end, the responsibility would lie exclusively on the British side," Mr Juncker said.
UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is also in Brussels for talks.
Downing Street said "progress has been made" but there were still "significant obstacles" to reaching
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