In all areas, the UK continues to backtrack.

The European Union argues that we should be subject to rules of the club that we have left.

The precondition is the level playing field.

We can deliver a real Brexit that achieves our objectives.

But if there is not a deal, we still need the Irish protocol or the Northern Irish protocol fully implemented.

I'm going to miss being the pantomime villain. protocol or the Northern Irish protocol fully implemented.

I'm going to miss being the pantomime villain.

Hello and welcome to Brexit Republic RTE's podcast on Brexit.

I'm Tony Connolly, RTE's Europe editor in Brussels.

And I'm Colom Ongoing, RTE's Deputy Foreign Editor in Dublin. Each week,

Brexit Republic assesses Brexit developments in Brussels, London and in Dublin. This week, David

Frost and Brandon Lewis doubled down on their attacks on the Northern Ireland Protocol, despite

last week's series of concessions by the EU. We'll explore why in the latest broadsides, the EU's approach is just not kosher.

And why the EU is whistling all the way to the bank after Boris Johnson famously dismissed

talk of a multi-billion euro divorce is having to swallow a financial settlement of 47.5 billion,

which the EU says is final. We'll hear from Ireland's member of the

European Court of Auditors about how the eye-watering amount was reached. And we'll be hearing

from Queen's University's Professor Katie Hayward on her new book, The Irish Border. What else?

And how attitudes to the protocol are hardening and entrenching on both sides of the

divide. And we'll hear from a veteran of EU affairs who has spent his career trying to build bridges

between London and Brussels on how to stop the slide in relations. First Tony, David Frost and

Brandon Lewis, they've been doing somewhat of a tour,

...