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 weekly podcast on Brexit.

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

I'm Sean Wheeler, RTE's correspondent in London. And I'm Colomom O'Monghain, RTE's

Deputy Foreign Editor at home. Each week, Brexit Republic brings you all the latest developments

from London, Brussels and Dublin. Count on to catastrophe. With just ours to go before the EU and

UK decide if they can strike a deal or throw in the towel, heavy goods vehicles are already

stacking up on the motorways to Dover and Calais.

We'll assess the mood in London and Brussels after that dinner of scallops and steam turbot,

as both sides trade barbs over the meaning of sovereignty and the normal obligations of

international trade.

We'll hear from a former advisor to the head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Ami,

about what a WTO Brexit will mean in the real world.

And we'll bring you up to date on the big developments around the Northern Ireland Protocol

with both sides announcing wholesale solutions to the economic and logistical upheaval

caused by that border on the Irish sea.

...