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.

And I'm Colommer Mungain, RTE's Deputy Foreign Editor, normally in Dublin, but currently at home in Kildare.

Each week, Brexit Republic brings you all the latest developments

from London, Brussels and Dublin.

This week, Brexit just got real.

Michael Gove warns of two-day-long queues in Kent

involving 7,000 lorries from the 1st of January

because not enough companies

will have filled in the correct customs paperwork. We'll introduce you to the latest border

thrown up by Brexit, the one that will divide Kent from the rest of the UK as a way to stop

an impossible tailback at Dover. And we look ahead to what could be the most crucial week in Brexit

land for months.

The Joint Committee will meet for the first time since the UK announced it would break

international law and override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol. A decisive trade negotiation round

...