Ireland narrowly avoids snap election

A possible Irish government collapse has been averted as the country's deputy prime minister resigned on Tuesday, local media have reported.

The reports of the resignation by Irish media, including public broadcaster RTE, came hours before a planned motion of no confidence against Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Frances Fitzgerald.

Ireland's government came to the point of falling by the end of the day amid an acrimonious row over Fitzgerald, a former justice minister, that threatened to destabilize crunch EU Brexit talks scheduled for next month.

In a national dispute, lawmakers from Ireland's biggest opposition party, Fianna Fail, were set to table a no-confidence motion in parliament over Fitzgerald at 8 p.m. Dublin time (2000GMT).

Fitzgerald has been accused of knowing about plans by lawyers for the police, known as the Gardai, to discredit a Garda whistleblower who exposed wrongdoing in the force.

Revelations about her handling of the affair undermined Fianna Fail support for the minority government of Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar.

Local media also reported that Fitzgerald had faced calls from a number of senior Fine Gael colleagues to step down so as to avoid a pre-Christmas general election.