Dail To Vote On EU/IMF Rescue This Week

The Dail will vote on Wednesday on the terms of the €85bn IMF/EU rescue package for Ireland, and the government is expected to carry it thanks to the support of a number of independent TDs.

Although legally it was not necessary to put the memorandum of understanding to a vote in the parliament, Taoiseach Brian Cowen bowed to political pressure and agreed to hold a vote.

Fine Gael has indicated that it will be voting against the deal, despite some rumours that it would offer the government some support.

It was a bad deal that needed to be renegotiated, the party said.

Its finance spokesman Michael Noonan said they would be treating it as a vote of confidence in the government.

Labour and Sinn Fein have also indicated they will be voting against the terms of the rescue deal.

One Fianna Fail backbench TD Mattie McGrath says he will not be supporting the government either.

But three independent TDs - Michael Lowry, Jackie Healy-Rae and Joe Behan - who supported the budget last week say they will vote with the government.

And as long as there are no further defections from the Fianna Fail and Green party, the government should be able to pass the motion with a majority of two votes.

The IMF last week deferred until Thursday its decision on endorsing the memorandum of understanding for the Irish loan until the Dail votes on it first.

Meanwhile, the issue of Brian Cowen's leadership of Fianna Fail seems to have been put to rest for the time being at least.

A meeting of the FF parliamentary party last Thursday endorsed his leadership, after the Taoiseach impressed party members with robust contributions to the Dail debate on the budget, and a number of strong media interviews in defence of the government's recent actions.

The likely date for the promised general election in the New Year could now be pushed back until March.

The Green Party had said it would pull out of government once the Finance Bill is passed in January.

Now, there is speculation that the election will not be called for a few extra weeks, giving time for the Dail to pass a number of pieces of legislation being promoted by the Green Party.

These include new rules on corporate donations to political parties and a Climate Bill. Fianna Fail plans to use the extra time to try to repair some of the damage to the party's reputation.

It will highlight what it says is the major differences in policy between Fine Gael and Labour, who are likely to form the next government.

The latest Irish Sun/Red C opinion poll put Fianna Fail in a shock fourth place for the first time ever behind Sinn Fein on just 13% support. Taoiseach Brian Cowen's personal satisfaction rating was just 8%.

If those poll findings were to be repeated in the general election, Fianna Fail would lost dozens of seats.