The Minister for European Affairs insists there can be no time limit placed on the backstop in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
Helen Mc Entee says it is necessary to protect peace on the island.
British MPs roundly rejected the deal in the House of Commons and efforts are continuing in Britain to find a way of breaking the impasse over the deal.
Minister Mc Entee says any limit to the back stop would mean it would cease to be an insurance mechanism.
Meanwhile, the British education secretary appears to have come close to ruling out a no-deal Brexit.
Damian Hinds has refused to confirm whether he'd resign from the UK cabinet if that was the scenario.
But he's gone further than most of his cabinet colleagues in suggesting he'd find it unacceptable.
