IT’S BEEN SOME week for Brexit.
On Monday, we knew one thing: that the pressure was on for a deal to be struck between the EU and the UK on Brexit.
After all, there was the Benn Act which meant that should no Withdrawal Agreement be agreed on, Boris Johnson would have to approach the EU and ask for an extension (something he really, really did not want to do).
Then there was the EU summit that was due to begin on Thursday, tightening the pressure further. And beyond that, the looming 31 October deadline.
But still, in these Brexit days no one really knows what’s going to happen. Yet when the chatter started to ramp up on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was really looking like all involved wanted things to come to a swift and positive conclusion.
Downing Street was working hard; Barnier believed an agreement was still possible; Donald Tusk was hopeful; Leo Varadkar was confident.
Then, on Wednesday night, we heard rumblings that an agreement was about to be struck: all that remained was getting the DUP on board for one thing. By Thursday morning, that had changed to the DUP being against the legal text.
And yet, just a few hours later, we got word: the deal had been agreed.
But what’s in this agreement, what does it mean, and what are the next steps? To explain, we gathered our Brexit experts around the table to chat it out. Joining host Sinéad O’Carroll are Brexit reporter Gráinne Ní Aodha (who’s in Brussels at that EU summit), Deputy Editor Christine Bohan, and reporter Dominic McGrath.
The Explainer / SoundCloud
This episode was put together by presenter Sinéad O’Carroll, producer Aoife Barry, assistant producer and technical operator Nicky Ryan, and executive producer Christine Bohan. Reporters were Gráinne Ní Aodha, Dominic McGrath and Christine Bohan. Design by Palash Somani.
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