The Irish government has just survived a precarious wobble which would have plunged Britain and Ireland into further chaos over a future Northern Ireland border. Until the resignation of Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Frances Fitzgerald earlier today, there was a clear and present danger of Leo Varadkar’s minority administration falling apart – all because of a police corruption imbroglio nobody in mainstream Irish politics seems prepared to grasp with both hands.
Hours ahead of a no-confidence motion Varadkar looked certain to lose, Fitzgerald declared she would be stepping aside ‘in the national interest’. Since May last year, the Fine Gael coalition, led by Varadkar, has been propped up by long-standing foe Fianna Fáil – populist Tweddledum to FG’s more chattering-class oriented Tweedledee (outsiders may struggle to discern the difference). Revelations that Fitzgerald may have had knowledge of a campaign against a police whistleblower threatened this brittle arrangement. Smelling blood, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin gave Varadkar an ultimatum: sack Fitzgerald or go to the polls.
The embattled Fitzgerald fought her corner, insisting she would in the long run be ‘vindicated’ by an independent investigation.
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