Irish government later gets a confidence vote as main opposition party I feel good calls for early general elections.
The Dublin administration is confident she has the numbers to win tonight’s vote in the Dail.
Sinn Fein filed a no-confidence vote after the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and green party coalition lost its parliamentary majority last week.
In response to this, the Government is set to file a vote of confidence in itself in the Dail later.
That move would replace the Sinn Fein motion, with the government’s no-confidence motion debate and vote instead.
Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh’s decision to give up his party whip last week left the government with 79 seats in the Dail – one short of a majority.
However, the coalition is confident that Mr McHugh and several other TDs outside the government will support the coalition in the vote.
Sinn Fein has strongly criticized the government’s response to the cost of living crisis, claiming it also fails on longer-term problems such as Ireland’s chronic housing shortage.
Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald insists it is time for a general election and a change of government.
However, Taoiseach Michael Martinleading Fianna Fail has branded the vote a “cynical exercise”.
He warned that early general elections would slow September’s budget, which will focus on support measures for those struggling with sky-high bills.
“The Irish people don’t want a general election,” he told reporters in Dublin on Monday.
“We are in the midst of a cost of living crisis, we have a war on the European continent.
“Last week Sinn Fein looked for a housing benefit package and an emergency budget, this week they are looking for general elections.
“A general election would mean no budget package for the foreseeable future and would lead to paralysis.
“In my opinion, it’s just a cynical exercise.”
The coalition has seen its majority gradually crumble in recent months – it eventually lost it when Mr McHugh gave up the whip over the government’s controversial plan to provide reparations to homeowners in counties hit by faulty building blocks.
The constituency of the former education minister, Donegal, is one of the provinces hardest hit by the bungled bloc scandal and he believes the recovery package is not comprehensive enough.