AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN the EU and the UK on the “remaining 3%” of the post-Brexit trade deal should “not be beyond the capacity” of both sides, the Taoiseach has said.

Speaking on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Micheál Martin said he hopes the trade talks continue after today. 

Today is the deadline agreed between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen by which a firm decision on the future of negotiations is due.

Johnson and von der Leyen are due to speak by phone later today. 

The Taoiseach said: “97% of this deal has been negotiated across judicial security research a whole range of areas, and it seems to me that the remaining 3% should not be beyond the capacity of both sides to bridge, and that is why it’s so important that dialogue continues.

I think it would be an appalling failure of statecraft if we were not in a position to get a deal over the line.

#Marr: Would you say that no trade deal between the UK and EU represents a failure of statecraft by both sides?

Irish PM Micheal Martin: "I would"#Brexit https://t.co/qvhGW845Bt pic.twitter.com/tKPRBc6Goh

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 13, 2020

Martin said it was in the interest of both sides to make a “major effort” over the next few hours to avoid a no-deal scenario. 

“Given the capacity of both sides to reach the conclusion on the Northern Ireland Protocol, that shows that the capacity exists also for both sides to get a deal on the substantive issues around level playing field and around fisheries,” he said.

The trade talks continue to be deadlocked over the issues of fishing rights and the so-called level playing field ‘ratchet’ that would tie the UK to future EU standards.

Sources in the British Government warned the offer on the table from the EU is still “unacceptable” to the UK.

The Taoiseach said: “The level playing field area is one that has bedeviled the talks from the outset. In my view, with some degree of creativity, a resolution can be found in that area.”

Martin said the UK and European economies are “interdependent” and it is important that the relationship remains “solid”. 

Any bit of energy we have left we must continue to focus on negotiating our way to a deal.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also spoke on the Marr show, saying he could “never say never” when asked whether UK-EU trade talks could continue past today.

Additional reporting by Press Association