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Pressure mounts on Deputy Irish PM amid snap election fears

By Padraic Halpin

 

The Leader of Ireland's opposition Fianna Fail party, Micheal Martin is seen in the grounds of Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland November 24, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

 

 

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he and opposition leader Micheal Martin would do all they can to avoid a snap election as the role of the deputy prime minister whose future they are fighting over was called into further question on Monday.

 

Varadkar and the head of the main opposition party propping up his minority government have 24 hours to resolve a domestic political dispute that has cast a shadow over the summit on neighbouring Britain's plans to leave the European Union.

 

Ireland will play a major role at the summit, telling EU leaders whether it believes sufficient progress has been made on the future of the border between EU-member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.

 

The Irish political crisis is over Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald's handling of a legal case involving a police whistleblower. Unless Fitzgerald, of Varadkar's Fine Gael party, resigns, Fianna Fail leader Martin plans to move a motion of no confidence in her on Tuesday at 2000 GMT.

 

Varadkar said last week that if the motion is not withdrawn, he will be forced to hold an election before Christmas, a prospect EU officials say would complicate the EU Brexit summit on Dec. 14-15.

 

While Varadkar said earlier on Monday that he and Martin would seek a compromise, a release of documents from the justice ministry shortly before their fourth meeting in the last four days appeared to put more pressure on Fitzgerald.

 

Fitzgerald said last week that she did not recall receiving an email in May 2015 which detailed an attempt to discredit a police whistleblower whose allegations of widespread misconduct in the force cost her predecessor his job as justice minister.

 

The documents released on Monday showed Fitzgerald also received two more emails about the strategy in July 2015.

 

"The Tanaiste's (deputy prime minister) position is untenable. There is only one honourable way to resolve this. Stand down," Mary Lou McDonald, the deputy leader of the second largest opposition party Sinn Fein, which has tabled a separate no confidence motion, wrote on Twitter after the release.

 

Even before the new documents were published, a senior Fianna Fail source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said a compromise that would see Fitzgerald stay in her role remained difficult for the party to accept.

 

Varadkar had repeated his support for his deputy earlier on Monday and Fitzgerald was quoted by the Sunday Independent newspaper as saying she would "not bow to summary justice".

 

But a reporter from the Irish edition of the Daily Mail said on Twitter on Monday that some ministers were now privately calling for Fitzgerald to step down immediately 'before any more damage is done'.

 

"UTTERLY IRRESPONSIBLE"

 

The crisis has erupted at a particularly sensitive point in the Brexit talks.

 

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney reiterated on Monday that not enough progress had been made on the border issue and that he had the full backing of all members states on the EU's negotiating side.

 

The border is one of three issues Brussels wants broadly resolved before it decides whether to move Brexit talks on to a second phase about trade, as Britain wants.

 

Concerns over how the Irish political crisis would impact the talks steadied sterling on Monday, after it posted its biggest weekly rise in more than a month.

 

"The next couple of months are crucial for the future of Ireland, and provoking an election right now would be utterly irresponsible," said Kevin O'Rourke, Professor of Economic History at Oxford University, who has written extensively on Ireland's role in the Brexit talks.

 

Ireland's main parties broadly back Varadkar's position on Brexit and an opinion poll on Saturday suggested an election would lead to little change, with another minority administration the most likely outcome.

 

"Certainly I don't want there to be an election, I don't think it would change anything or achieve anything, particularly at such an important time for the country," Varadkar said ahead of talks between the two party leaders.

 

(Editing by Catherine Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-28