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Frances Fitzgerald, current Irish Deputy Prime Minister and then-Minister for Justice and Equality, at Dublin Castle on Nov. 10, 2015 in Dublin, Ireland.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald is expected to announce her resignation this afternoon, according to local media reporting unnamed government sources.
No official announcement has been made and current cabinet meetings are ongoing.
The resignation would come amid intense pressure for Fitzgerald to step down from within and outside of her own Finn Gael party, which leads Ireland’s minority government and is headed by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
On Friday, opposition party Fianna Fáil, on which the minority government depends for support, tabled a motion of no confidence in the deputy prime minister following allegations that she mishandled a whistleblower case while holding the position of Justice Minister in 2015.
Fitzgerald’s resignation prevents the vote from going forward, which if successful would have triggered a government collapse and snap elections before Christmas.
In government talks over the weekend, Fianna Fáil leaders laid out the condition that the only way the vote could be prevented was if Fitzgerald stepped down. The development is widely seen as a win for Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin.
