Political turmoil in Ireland amid economic woes

The World

The Irish government is in the unprecedented situation of having a leader of parliament who does not head up his own party. On Saturday, Taoiseach (leader) Brian Cowen stepped down as head of the ruling party, Fianna Fail, after the resignation of key ministers a few days earlier. And yesterday, the government’s coalition partner, the Green Party, withdrew its support. Now elections that were scheduled for mid-March will most likely happen in the next few weeks. And the fate of a finance bill that was to complete the IMF bailout is uncertain.

The BBC’s Mark Simpson reports on the political drama in Dublin.

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