The forthcoming negotiations between Britain and the EU will be of immense important for Ireland’s future – comparable to the accession to the EU, the Good Friday talks and the agreement that ended the Economic War with Britain in 1938.

All of the above set the direction of the country for years to come. The Brexit arrangements will do the same.

But these negotiations are different in one crucial respect – Ireland is not a full party to the EU-UK talks, but rather will depend on the EU side to keep Ireland’s interests at the forefront. This is causing some anxiety in Government and has prompted three important behind the scenes developments in recent days.

The first is a resolution that Ireland will intensify ongoing contacts with the UK to identify and settle matters of common interest, especially those affecting the North. If the EU gets antsy about that (though sources say EU officials recognise Ireland’s position) then tough; these are matters of Ireland’s vital national interest.

The second is that the Government has resolved that the EU must be made aware that there are some things that Ireland simply cannot live with, and the EU must – simply must – take account of this in negotiations with the UK.

The third is that in the wake of the British decision there has been a good deal of thinking done to clarify what is the order of Ireland’s priorities.

Highest among those immediate priorities, according to people closely acquainted with the Government’s developing thinking, is the maintenance of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain.

The CTA is not a formal legal agreement; rather it has simply always been in existence in some shape or form since the legal separation of the two countries in 1922. Both governments agreed to continue the pre-independence practice of people moving freely between the two jurisdictions. It has been tweaked over the years, principally to account for large scale immigration to the UK from the Commonwealth in the 1960s, when only UK-born citizens were allowed immunity to Irish immigration law.

The CTA has facilitated more than just trade; rather, it has enabled an intertwining of Irish and British societies to such an extent that officials believe its discontinuance would be unthinkable.

The Common Travel Area is sometimes conflated with the fact that both countries are members of the same single market. But in the exercise of clarifying Ireland’s priorities that is currently under way, it is important to realise that they are not the same thing, sources say.

Trade with the UK is obviously immensely important to Ireland; it’s worth, after all, over a billion euro a week. The UK buys nearly half of Irish exports. For many small business exporters, the UK is their principal market. It is the next most important priority for the Government.

However, Irish Government sources say that some form of a “customs border” between the Republic and the North could be a “manageable” proposition, in the event that the UK leaves the single market. There will not necessarily be a return to queues of lorries at the Border.

Officials have looked at arrangements between Norway and Sweden, where sporadic checks are carried out and the customs official work closely with haulage and freight companies. “There are various technical solutions that you could look at,” says one source.

“The logistics of the movement of goods, even if there are some checks and controls – that’s probably manageable,” says another source, familiar with planning in the area. “What would be more important – logistically and, in a way, psychologically – is the Common Travel Area.”

Obviously trade is very important, adds another insider, but its curtailment would not be as “worrisome” as any restrictions on the CTA.

After the CTA and the future of trade, the Government priorities centre on a range of policy areas that are only now being identified by working groups of officials in each Government department. Agriculture, fisheries, education, energy and justice are areas that are mentioned by sources involved in the process. But most of these – with the exception of justice – will be addressed in the negotiations between the EU and the UK. The changes that affect the North and the relationship between the two islands – east-west issues, in official jargon – the Irish and British governments will seek to sort out themselves.

“But look, all this depends on what the Brits want,” says a high-ranking official, who like others spoke on condition he was not identified.

Ministers and officials – like their counterparts elsewhere in the EU – are watching closely what happens in the British Conservative Party. The successful candidate – who will become (presumably) prime minister – will then have to make clear what the new British government wants its future relationship with the EU to be. The nature of that relationship may well be a central choice of the Tory leadership campaign.

That choice will define much of the nature of the negotiations between the UK and the EU on the exit terms, but also on the parallel process to map the future relationship between the two. So Europe will have to wait.

However, senior officials from both governments nowadays have a relationship of unparalleled and unprecedented closeness.

Aside from regular contacts at a diplomatic level, and between the offices of prime minister and the Taoiseach, secretary generals from Irish Government departments now have an annual meetings with their counterpart permanent secretaries in Whitehall.

Insiders say there is not so much regular contact, as a rolling conversation between the two administrations. As a result, significant co-operation can be expected in the negotiations to come. It also gives the Irish a pretty good idea of what the British are likely to seek.

The Taoiseach has been at pains to stress that his absolute priority is the pursuit of Irish interests. In a way, it is peculiar that he should feel the need to do so, but there is considerable sensitivity in Government that Ireland is seen to be speaking for itself, and not for the UK.

Perhaps this because Ireland’s interests coincide so closely with Britain’s, at least in relation to key Irish priorities.

But it is also true that what Ireland wants, Britain wants – or will probably want, once its leadership is settled – as close a trading relationship with the EU as possible. In particular, the UK is likely – according to senior British as well as Irish sources – to want to maintain either membership of or access to the single market.

The chances of this were pretty firmly rebuffed by European leaders at the Brussels summit last week, citing the requirement to observe the “four freedoms” fundamental to the EU – the movement of goods, services, capital and people. Restricting the last of these, of course, is the grounds on which the British referendum was largely fought, and lost. (Or won, depending on your point of view).

The Irish Government supports the principles that underpin the single market. They have been fundamental to the rising prosperity of the country in the last four decades. But their strict observance is perhaps not as important to this country as maintaining an open border with the North, continued co-operation with the UK and – above all – protecting the gains of the peace process.

This position has been conveyed to European leaders and their aides, both in Brussels and through Ireland’s embassy network. The Taoiseach is said to be planning a series of bilateral meetings with other heads of government.

Senior Government figures are optimistic that the EU will recognise the special position of Ireland, and its special needs regarding the North and the wider British relationship. There was acceptance in Brussels last week when the Taoiseach spoke about the peace process and the broader evolution of relationships between Ireland and Britain. But that is some way from being expressed in legal form.

Officials parsed the comments of European leaders, in search of nuance. “Merkel said it was important to ‘respect’ the four freedoms, not ‘adhere’ to them. But maybe I’m reading too much into it,” wondered one source.

The sense in Brussels is that notwithstanding the anger at Britain – unlikely to dissipate anytime soon – there was appreciation of Ireland’s position, according to people who were present.

Converting that into legal agreements that protect Ireland’s interests will be a long and complicated business. Officials say that it is too early to speak about protocols – such as Ireland has obtained in the past – but don’t dismiss the idea entirely.

All agree it will be a long road. But a week after the UK’s momentous decision, Ireland is at least clear what it wants.

The same cannot be said of our near neighbours.