TÁNAISTE Simon Coveney has said a good outcome for Ireland has been achieved as a deal has been done and negotiations move into the second phase.
The deputy leader also said there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland, and the Belfast Agreement will be upheld.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Tánaiste Simon Coveney says "There is no scenario now in the context of Brexit that will result in a hard border."
Mr Coveney said the deal was good news for all, including nationalist, unionist, and those in border communities.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will make a speech on the deal at later this morning from Government buildings in Dublin.
The announcement of a deal came early this morning as Prime Minister Theresa May and Brexit secretary David Davis jetted to London this morning to meet with EU President Jean Claude Juncker.
Previously DUP leader Arlene Foster said Britain has made substantive changes to its proposed text for a deal with the European Union.
"We're pleased to see those change because for me it means there's no red line down the Irish Sea and we have the very clear confirmation that the entirety of the United Kingdom is leaving the European union, leaving the single market, leaving the customs union," Arlene Foster told Sky News.
"There are still matters there that we would have liked to have seen clarified, we ran out of time essentially, we think that we needed to go back again and talk about those matters but the prime minister has decided to go to Brussels in relation to this text."
As more details of the deal emerge, it's believed that Britain will maintain “full alignment” with rules of single market and customs union which support cross-border cooperation and create “no new regulatory barriers."
DUP objections to the proposed agreement on border-related issues were the main reason why Mrs May was not able to conclude a deal with the EU on Monday.A European Commission spokeswoman said a press conference will be held after the leaders meet.European Council president Donald Tusk was also expected to make a statement on Brexit early this morning, which added to speculation that progress had been made on the border issue.Martin Selmayr, a top aide to the head of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, signalled there was an agreement on Britain's divorce terms with the EU by tweeting a picture of white smoke that is a symbol of the election of a new pope.
