Any chance to avoid the hardship and massive economic disruption of a no deal has to be taken. Stock image

The solution to Brexit, it seems, was hiding in plain sight all along. Seal them all away in a tunnel. In all negotiations, if you can't add to the discussion you don't subtract by talking carelessly. As Michel Barnier noted there is still "a mountain" to climb. But tunnels are a proven way of getting to the other side when all previous hopes to cross daunting summits end in a death zone.

Brussels has a lexicon of its own: aides are known as Sherpas and "the tunnel" is a process where the real hard yards are made. Mischief-making spin-doctors are verboten. But despite the secrecy, care has been taken to leak sufficient detail of what has been put on the table, to suggest Boris Johnson has breached his red lines. In desperate situations, one grasps at whatever is available.

Going into a UK election without a deal, or being forced to seek a delay from Brussels, would constitute a special kind of hell for Mr Johnson. He has opted not for "dying in a ditch" after all, but has taken advantage of the lifeline thrown to him at the "last-ditch talks" by the Taoiseach.

His refusal to deny the North might remain in a customs union sets him up for a monumental clash with hardline Brexiteers.

After all the huffing and puffing, he is moving closer to the familiar contours of the first version of the Northern Ireland-only backstop. This would avoid a hard Border. He also appears to have yielded ground on the issue of consent. A simple majority could register approval for the North to opt out of the new arrangements. This would remove a DUP veto. A partnership arrangement could evolve where the North might be aligned with both the EU and UK, with a border in the Irish Sea.

The arrangement offers unique advantages in trade and could transform the economy of the North. It opens up a new horizon in terms of co-operation and opportunity.

Whether it was genius, blind chance or dumb necessity that forced matters forward is a moot point. What is vital is that any chance to avoid the hardship and massive economic disruption of a no deal be taken.

As pointed out already in these pages, the North is closing in on 1,000 days without government. Westminster too has been tearing itself apart for more than three years.

If a compromise is a stalling between two fools, a no-deal crash-out would be a head-long rush into a black hole.

There is a week to avoid disaster. Cuban poet José Martí said action is the dignity of greatness. The moment of truth can no longer be delayed.

The last chance to save a deal must not evaporate in hot-tempered political spasms of empty rhetoric.

Irish Independent