DUBLIN, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Ireland believes the trade deal agreed between Britain and the European Union on Thursday protects its interests as well as could possibly have been hoped, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said. “Today we finally get certainty that there is a trade deal that I think protects Ireland in the circumstances as well as we could possibly have hoped,” Coveney told Newstalk Radio. Prime Minister Micheál Martin described the deal in a statement as “a good compromise and a balanced outcome”. (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Alex Richardson)