Ireland open to modest extensions to Northern Ireland Brexit grace periods

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland is open to "modest" extensions of waivers on the movement of certain goods from Britain into Northern Ireland after the British government asked the European Union to tweak post-Brexit rules, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.

Coveney was speaking ahead of talks on the issue next week in London between British Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, both of whom Coveney said he was in regular contact with.

"I would be open to advocating for modest extensions of grace periods," Coveney told Ireland's RTE Radio, but he said there was no question of scrapping the Northern Ireland Protocol of Britain's EU divorce deal.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Hugh Lawson)