DUBLIN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ireland on Friday evening welcomed the additional clarity provided by British Prime Minister Theresa May in her speech in the Italian cultural capital of Florence.
"The speech is a positive contribution towards making progress on phase one issues -- citizens' rights, the financial settlement and Irish issues," Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said in a statement.
This is needed to enable the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) to move forward to the important next phase, he said.
But Coveney said there are still many outstanding issues, adding that a lot of work is still required before European leaders can make a decision that parallel discussions on the EU's future relationship with the UK can begin.
"The key thing now is that today's comments by Prime Minister May are translated into deliverables across the negotiating table in Brussels," he said.
"Ultimately Ireland wants: the gains of the peace process protected, including avoiding a hard border; an orderly UK withdrawal; a sufficiently long and non-disruptive transition arrangement; and the closest possible EU-UK future relationship, including in trade, which minimizes to the greatest extent possible the impact on the Irish economy," he added.
Earlier on Friday, May used a stop in Florence to set out a road map for her country's departure from the EU while promising that ties between Britain and the EU would remain strong even after the so-called Brexit period concludes.
In her speech, May proposed a two-year "period of implementation" after Britain leaves the EU.
Britain will officially no longer be a part of the EU as of midnight on March 29, 2019. This means May is suggesting Britain would continue to stay in the EU single market and customs union for another two years after that.
