(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar 'is doing everything he can to avoid a snap general election, his spokesman said, but the crisis that has brought his minority government to the brink showed no obvious sign of resolution yesterday.
Varadkar has two days to end the standoff with the party propping up his government before it submits a motion of no confidence in his deputy prime minister, a move that Varadkar says will force him to call a snap election before Christmas.
The crisis has erupted less than three weeks before a summit on Britain's plans to leave the European Union, where Ireland will play a major role in deciding whether the negotiations can move onto the next phase.
Talks between Varadkar and Micheal Martin, the leader of the main opposition party, Fianna Fail, continued yesterday ahead of Martin bringing the motion of no confidence in Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald before parliament tomorrow.
'The Taoiseach (prime minister) is doing everything he can to avoid an election, and hopes it will be possible to reach agreement with Micheal Martin, Varadkar's spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman added that there was no question of Fitzgerald being asked to resign over her handling of a legal case involving a police whistleblower.
Fianna Fail say this is the only way to avoid an election.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the leaders agreed the outline of a deal that would allow an ongoing judge-led tribunal to investigate the issue but that sources in Varadkar's Fine Gael party said an election was unavoidable if Fianna Fail continued to call for Fitzgerald to step down.
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