The country appears to be on the verge of a general election.
The Fine Gael parliamentary party voted unanimously last night to support the Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, following no-confidence motions tabled by Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil.
The Government would collapse in a situation where Fianna Fáil voted no confidence in the Tánaiste.
Confirmed: FF putting down its own motion of No Confidence.
Now, even if Tanaiste resigns, fundamental basis of Confidence & Supply is dead— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 23, 2017
The Fianna Fáil front bench is to discuss the crisis at a meeting this morning.
The opposition says Frances Fitzgerald failed to act when she received an email indicating a smear campaign against the Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
But speaking last night on TV3, Junior Housing Minister Carlow/Kilkenny's John Paul Phelan said the Tánaiste did nothing wrong, "no government can have a situation where a Cabinet Minister could be removed from office for actually obeying the law and doing what she was requested or presented to her in an email two and a half years ago, which was at the very bottom line - no action was required."
