Sturgeon to meet Varadkar in Dublin

Nicola Sturgeon will discuss business and cultural links between Ireland and Scotland on a visit to Dublin to promote trade.

Scotland's First Minister will meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during the visit on Monday and host a round-table meeting with investors at Irish Employers and Business Confederation (IBEC).

She will stress the importance of the Irish export market to Scotland, worth £1.5 billion in 2017.

Nicola Sturgeon and Leo Varadkar at a previous meeting in Dublin (Tom Honan/PA)

The SNP leader will also visit a school project using poetry to connect young people in the Irish capital and Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

The First Minister will say: Scotland is an outward-looking, welcoming, European nation that greatly values the friendship and progressive values it shares with Ireland, and we are determined that relationship will go from strength to strength.

''The relationship with Ireland is of vital importance to Scotland.

''As our fifth largest export market, business and cultural links between Scotland and Ireland are very important.

''Whatever happens with Brexit, we will not allow it to damage our relationship with our closest partners and friends, and we will continue to encourage trade, inward investment and international cultural collaboration.''