Irish Prime Minister set to announce election date on Tuesday

Leo Varadkar had wanted a summer 2020 election but said progress on Brexit meant circumstances had changed

Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar leads a minority government. Reuters

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has decided to call a general election and will announce its date after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

“I have made a decision but there is some respective protocol around this, so I would like to speak to the cabinet and the leader of the opposition,” the Taoiseach told broadcaster RTE.

“The cabinet will meet on Tuesday and the Dail will reconvene on Wednesday,” he said, referring to the lower house of parliament.

Irish media reported the election could happen within weeks. Mr Varadkar said his preference had been for a summer poll but recent events meant it had been brought forward.

“I have always said that it should only happen when it is the right time for the country, and it has been my view for a long time now that the right time would be the summer of 2020,” he said. “But I have to acknowledge that circumstances have changed.

“We have a deal on Brexit and, in many ways, that was the big job of this Government, our magnum opus, to secure a deal on Brexit,” he said.

A minority government led by Mr Varadkar’s centre-right Fine Gael has ruled since 2016 after an initial three-year cooperation deal with Micheal Martin’s Fianna Fail was extended through to 2020 due to uncertainty created by Brexit talks.

With Britain set to leave the European Union at the end of January, both had said an election should be held by May.

But a demand by Mr Varadkar for Fianna Fail support on various issues until that time raised the prospect of a snap election as early as next month if the parties cannot agree a short legislative programme.