1/ Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney, talking to us after meeting Michel Barnier tonight: 'I don't think things have reached an impasse but there are certainly significant gaps to close. Clearly the UK will need to move on some of the positions that were outlined last week.'
2/ 'The issues of customs, and governance and consent of any new proposal, is where the problem is and there's a real gap there between the 2 negotiating teams.' UK's additional legal text 'really was confirming the gap in terms of trying to find a customs mechanism that works.'
3/ 'I believe the PM wants to find a way of doing a deal. But certainly there are some in the UK who seem to be planning for a General Election ahead of trying to plan to get a deal.' Says Dublin is 'just ignoring' much of the 'pressure' and 'commentary' coming out of London.
4/ 'If we don't manage to get a deal and somehow the UK crash out, if that is allowed by a British Government, it would really be an extraordinary failure of politics.' He says the two sides 'aren't even formally negotiating at the moment' but are just engaged in technical talks.
