Irish FM: No Progress Made In Brexit Talks Yesterday-RTE

Further dampener on the mood of Brexit talks from RTE's Tony Connelly, compiling quotes from Irish FM Simon Coveney:

• "Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney says EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has given a "very gloomy, downbeat" assessment of the prospects for a deal to EU ambassadors. "He is very cautious about the ability to make progress today". Coveney told @rtenews "there really was no progress made yesterday, so we've got to try to make a breakthrough at some point today"."
• Today's news cycle is likely to be further buffeted around by sporadic comments from politicians or sources on either the UK or EU side talking up or talking down the prospect of a deal.
• At present it remains very difficult to call whether this morning's downbeat EU comments, and those supposedly from UK gov't officials claiming they are close to walking away from talks, are real or simply negotiating tactics.