Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he is relieved for Ireland and the UK after the British general election results.
With all but one seat declared, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has secured a comfortable majority of around 78 seats in the House of Commons.
The Tory leader has already pledged to get his Brexit deal through the House of Commons in the coming weeks, ahead of the deadline next month.
He told supporters this morning: "We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January - no ifs, no buts, no maybes."
EU leaders are in Brussels for a European Council meeting, and this morning have been offering their responses to the decisive Tory victory in the UK.
Heading into today's summit, Leo Varadkar congratulated Boris Johnson on what he described as an "enormous victory for him on a personal level".
Congratulations to @BorisJohnson on a formidable personal and political victory. Withdrawal Agreement means orderly #Brexit, no hard border, Common Travel Area and reciprocal citizens’ rights protected.
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) December 13, 2019
Suggesting that the decisive outcome was a "positive thing", the Taoiseach told reporters: "I'm relieved for my country, and I'm also relieved for the UK: we've really had deadlock and gridlock for two or three years now, and that is now going to pass.
"I deeply regret that the United Kingdom, our friends, are leaving the European Union: but that's their decision, and they've confirmed that now with this election."
He said that once the Withdrawal Agreement is passed and Brexit finally happens, the focus will turn to achieving a "mighty new economic partnership between the EU and UK" - something he believes can be done.
'Significant result' in Northern Ireland
Mr Varadkar also commented on the results from Northern Ireland, which have seen nationalists win more seats in the House of Commons than unionists for the first time.
The DUP lost two seats, including deputy leader Nigel Dodd's seat in North Belfast.
Sinn Féin retains seven seats, while the SDLP have regained two seats (up from none in 2017) in Westminster.
The Taoiseach suggested the results reflect a political situation in the North that has been shifting in recent years.
He said: "This is a significant result in Northern Ireland, but not dissimilar to the one in the European elections or the last Assembly elections: no unionist majority, no nationalist majority and an ever-expanding centre ground.
"One thing that hasn't changed is that the best future for power-sharing is one based on power-sharing, one based on reconciliation, one-based on bringing all communities together: the next step in that has to be getting the Assembly and Executive up-and-running before January 13th.
"The Tánaiste and I, once I'm back in Dublin... We're going to be giving this everything between now and the middle of January."
Main image: Leo Varadkar speaks to reporters in Brussels. Picture by: Francisco Seco/AP/Press Association Images
