#1 | Scene Setting and Norway Plus

Paddy Wants To Know Brexit is a brand new podcast on the HeadStuff Podcast Network that seeks to explain Brexit to an Irish audience. Each episode will address what’s been happening in the preceding few weeks in the messy world of Brexit negotiations and explain how it will affect Ireland. The hosts, Brian Mahon, Jack Good and Niamh Mahon will then interview someone who has something to say on Brexit, it could be anyone from an academic to a farmer, or even someone who thinks Brexit is a good idea.

This inaugural podcast looks back on phase one of negotiations and asks ‘did Ireland get a good deal from the first round of negotiations?’ Some of us are not convinced it will hold. The gang also discuss the internal politics of the Tory party and their attitude to Brexit overall.

Later in the podcast the guys interview Paddy Brussels, our EU source, who seems a bit confused by what a Norway plus deal would actually look like for the UK and whether it’s even feasible in the first place.

Further reading on what a Norway Plus may well mean here: Business Insider — Explained: EFTA, the EEA, and why even some Brexiteers are now embracing the Norway model

Have a look at Barnier’s much-loved graph which our source in Brussels mentioned here: European Commission — Slide presented by Michel Barnier, European Commission Chief Negotiator, to the Heads of State and Government at the European Council (Article 50) on 15 December 2017