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Leo told Bloomberg TV it's time to get 'down and dirty' on the details of Brexit

The UK hopes to have terms of a transition deal by March.

LEO VARADKAR HAS been speaking to Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos today – telling the broadcaster it’s time to get “down and dirty” on the detail over Brexit.

The British government has said it hopes to reach terms for a transition deal for leaving the EU by the end of March. (And the EU’s negotiating guidelines were published by Channel 4 today).

Marathon talks carried out before Christmas resulted in the UK and EU agreeing to the retention of a free-flowing border in Ireland – a deal which the Taoiseach described at the time as “bulletproof”.

“I would like to see the United Kingdom remain in the single market and the customs union,” he said today.

Now they’ve said that they don’t want to do that, and I respect that – but perhaps we can negotiate something that isn’t very different to that.

Asked what he thought the final agreement would look like, he said it would be a “new agreement”.

“We would have it Norway-plus but I think we need to get into the detail now as to what that means,” Varadkar said.

It’s been quite some time since this referendum happened, and we really need to get down and dirty with the detail.

Norway has an arrangement with the EU whereby it has full access to the single market, makes a financial contribution to the union and accepts most EU laws. Like Iceland, it is a member of the European Economic Area.

Transition

UK Brexit Secretary David Davis insisted yesterday that he expects to reach agreement on the terms for a transition deal for leaving the European Union by the end of March.

The UK is set to officially leave the EU in March 2019, but plans to abide by many of the EU’s rules for around two years to make the transition more orderly.

The structure of the transition deal, which is expected to run until 2020/21, is the cause of heated debate.

He told a Westminster committee yesterday:

I’m relaxed about transition because my primary concern is about the future relationship, that’s what matters, that’s what people will judge us on in 10, 20, 30 years time.

Davis said that during this period, “we will be replicating to a very large extent the operations of the single market and customs union” and that Britain would remain subject to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

- with reporting from AFP 

Read: Enda had a torturous conversation about the election date in Davos >

Read: Enda’s charming smile is too much for this Bloomberg presenter (GIF) >

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    Mute Mary Lyons
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:33 PM

    The tech guides go right over my head even though I am the one who needs them most!!

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    Mute Byyys
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:29 PM

    If you’ve limited space and have to delete photos or Apps to make room, then just buy a MicroSD card.. (I have a 64GB SD card with plenty of space left) Apple wont allow the use of SD cards with iPhones or no USB support either to easily transfer Photos to PC!

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    Mute Kelvin Collins
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:35 PM

    However you can set up iCloud to automatically copy all photos to a PC as they’re shot, meaning you have a back up and can delete off your phone if you so wish. No need for any cables or leads!

    18
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    Mute Byyys
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:43 PM

    iCloud?…. Naaaah ill keep my privacy/data to myself and do it the old fashioned way with leads!

    38
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    Mute Kelvin Collins
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:49 PM

    You got some dodgy photos you want to keep secret?

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    Mute LittleBlackPetal
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:56 PM

    I’ve this problem with my phone now, and don’t really trust backing them up to Google or anything. Would you trust an sd card from eBay? Is an sd card and usb key the best way to go?

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    Mute LittleBlackPetal
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:57 PM

    Does everyone not have dodgey photos that they want to keep secret?! :-/

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    Mute andrew haire
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    Apr 15th 2015, 12:41 PM

    Don’t take too many photos. Live in the moment.

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    Mute Ken Peacham
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    Apr 15th 2015, 1:09 PM

    I use an app called Clean Master (Android) great for sorting and deleting duplicate pics – also keeps the rest of your phone clean of junk

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    Mute mahonez
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    Apr 15th 2015, 5:28 PM

    For precious pics that I really want to save, I email them to myself. Or upload to Dropbox. Or print em out. Crap amount of storage in iPhone 5c, so I have to try and sort and delete pics often.

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