David Davis is known as the 'tea boy' by Irish ministers who insist they will only negotiate Brexit with senior civil servant Olly Robbins, it was claimed today.

The dismissal of the Brexit Secretary by Dublin lays bare the state of relations between Britain and the EU.

The clock is ticking for a Brexit deal with this week's EU summit set to pass with effectively no progress.

It will heap pressure on the next summit in October to come up with some kind of agreement in time for Brexit day on March 29, 2019.

David Davis (pictured today arriving for Cabinet) is known as the 'teaboy' by Irish ministers who insist they will only negotiate Brexit with senior civil servant Olly Robbins, it was claimed today

Mr Robbins (left) personally advises the Prime Minister on Europe and Brexit while working as a senior official to Mr Davis

The dismissal of the Brexit Secretary by Leo Varadkar's (file) government in Dublin lays bare the state of relations between Britain and the EU

An impasse over how to run the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland has paralysed the talks for months.

It was claimed today Brussels will tease the Prime Minister with a better trade deal if she drops her red lines and keeps Britain closer to the bloc.

Revealing the disdain for Mr Davis, an Irish minister told Politico: 'We deal with Olly Robbins.

'We don't deal with the tea boy.'

Sources close to Mr Davis declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline.

Mr Robbins personally advises the Prime Minister on Europe and Brexit while working as a senior official to Mr Davis.

Mrs May admitted to EU Council President Donald Tusk last night that Britain's Brexit demands would not be ready until after this week's crucial EU summit.

The Prime Minister told the EU Council President at Downing Street talks she would not have her crucial policy paper on the shape of Brexit in time to discuss it with other European leaders.

The state of the document, known as a White Paper, has been the subject of fraught discussions inside Westminster and is not likely to be fixed until a Cabinet away day next week.

Despite talks in Downing Street (pictured) hopes are slim for any kind of breakthrough at the summit in Brussels later this week

Brussels had wanted to see 'progress' on resolving the Irish border at this week's summit but hopes are rapidly fading of any movement at all.

The Sun today said the EU was prepared to 'reconsider its position' if Britain abandoned hopes of getting out of the European Court and other EU bodies.

As he arrived at the talks Mr Tusk said he had been 'moved' by a mass protest in favour of the EU on Saturday but acknowledged Brexit was going ahead.

And he warned striking a deal would be harder for Mrs May than England found playing Panama in the World Cup on Sunday.

Following tonight's talks, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'On the Brexit negotiations, the PM looked forward to discussing the continuing progress we have made on issues relating to the UK's withdrawal and work to build towards a deep future partnership.

'The PM said the UK will be setting out more detail on the UK's vision for the future relationship in a White Paper after the June Council.'