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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Resigns Avoiding Government Collapse And Brexit Complications

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Following intense pressure from Irish MPs, including some within her own party, RTE, Ireland’s national broadcaster, is reporting that Deputy Prime Minister, Frances Fitzgerald, has stepped down ahead of a no-confidence vote which was scheduled for 8.00pm tonight in the Irish Parliament. A successful no-confidence vote would have brought down Ireland’s minority government at a critical moment in the ongoing Brexit discussions.

Fitzgerald’s position had become untenable following the release of a cache of emails which suggested that she knew more about legal efforts to discredit a police whistle blower than it had earlier appeared. Fitzgerald said repeatedly that she did nothing wrong and some of her colleagues in the ruling centre-right Fine Gael party had continued to defend her publicly. As Bloomberg notes.

Fitzgerald “has made it quite clear that she had no hand, act nor part in that strategy,” Jerry Buttimer, a senator representing the ruling Fine Gael party, said in an interview with broadcaster RTE on Tuesday. “I believe her.”

After the release of the emails, the conciliatory tone from some MPs in rival parties evaporated…

Fitzgerald’s position is “no longer tenable,” Timmy Dooley, a spokesman for Fianna Fail, the biggest opposition party, said, adding he’s hopeful “cool heads” will emerge to resolve the situation without an election.

…and pressure from within her own party was rising, as the FT notes.

Senior figures in the party said there was a growing sense within the cabinet, despite public support for Ms Fitzgerald, that she should go to prevent an election that would be held in the week of December 18. A senior Fine Gael figure, who is close to the party leadership, said the unanimous view in cabinet was “incredulity at the length of time it’s taking (Ms Fitzgerald) to leave.

”The senior figure said party MPs had the same view: “They all want her gone. They all wanted her gone last night. I think the taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) gave her the night to think about. Everyone wants her to go rather than him pushing her. There’s only one outcome. It’s inevitable.”

Last night, a meeting between Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, and Micheál Martin, leader of the opposition Fianna Fáil party, broke up without agreement. Fianna Fáil has supported Varadkar’s minority government since the 2016 elections. Ironically, Leo Varadkar had taken over from Enda Kenny who had resigned in the midst of the same policing scandal. Martin had insisted that Fitzgerald had to go, while Varadkar maintained yesterday that he had absolute confidence in her and was keen to avoid an election in the “interest of the country”. According to the FT.

Ms Fitzgerald stands accused of knowing about — but doing nothing to avert — the legal strategy of police chiefs to discredit a whistleblower who exposed malpractice in the force. She insists she did not know about it, has no memory of a damaging email from May 2015 that has come to light and had no power to intervene as the affair was under investigation.

Ms Fitzgerald has maintained that she learnt of the police’s intention to discredit the whistleblower only in May 2016, when it emerged in a media leak. But a release of records from the justice ministry on Monday showed she was told repeatedly in 2015 about an “aggressive” approach to undermine the whistleblower.

“It is clear that she was aware of this strategy. She said she couldn’t remember the email. We now see an email this evening stating that the minister noted that email,” said Jim O’Callaghan, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman. But Ms Fitzgerald wrote on Twitter that she was not empowered as justice minister to interfere with the commission that investigated the whistleblower affair. She insisted the correct forum to judge her conduct is a separate tribunal of inquiry that holds hearings into the matter early next year. “I look forward to giving my evidence to the Tribunal early in January,” she wrote.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had been due to meet opposition leaders again on Tuesday to seek a compromise which would have headed off the no-confidence vote. Varadkar had remained loyal to his deputy despite the growing chorus for her to step down.

A collapse of the minority Irish government and a new election could have threatened a successful resolution of Brexit negotiations as we approach the deadline of the EU summit early next month. Ireland, backed by the rest of the EU, has been demanding assurances from the UK that Brexit would not see a return to checkpoints and a “hard” border. This is the FT’s take.

The scandal comes at a very awkward time for Mr Varadkar, who is embroiled in a tense stand-off with London over the status of the Irish Republic’s border with Northern Ireland after Brexit. Dublin has threatened to veto a deal to move to the next phase of Brexit talks at a make-or-break EU summit next month if London does not detail how it will avoid a “hard” border with Ireland — which will be Britain’s only land frontier once it leaves the EU.

In six days, Theresa May has the very dubious pleasure of another dinner with European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, in what is being hyped as a “key” meeting. A snap Irish election might have permitted Juncker to make May’s life even more difficult.

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