and the republic. the brexit secretary, david davis, said british business could now invest with confidence, and the uk would be free to negotiate new trade agreements during the transition process. our europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, has the latest. first thing this morning, and it was ireland's foreign minister who was in brussels meeting michel barnier, before david davis got there. his aim, to see to it that irish concerns remained uppermost in the brexit negotiations. simon coveney had begun the day tweeting that he was on an early flight to ensure there would be no backsliding on the irish border issue. after his meeting, a satisfied looking mr coveney said that solidarity with the eu partners remained strong. a little later, it was david davis's turn, hoping a transition deal could be secured, to do so was urgent with brexitjust a year away. are you confident today? we're determined, mr barnier said.