Irish leader pleads with his MPs ahead of vote challenge

IRISH prime minister Brian Cowen faces a no-confidence vote in parliament as he tries to cling to power long enough to pass his government's latest emergency budget.

The republic's Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore announced yesterday that he has submitted a motion for a no-confidence vote for parliament next week - a challenge that further complicates Mr Cowen's struggle to stay in office.

If he loses, he will be forced to dissolve parliament and call a snap election.

The Taoiseach spent yesterday meeting MPs from his long-ruling Fianna Fail party to try to persuade them not to pursue an internal no-confidence motion in his leadership.

A potential leadership rival, tourism and arts minister Mary Hanafin, declined to endorse him and appealed for a quick decision.

Mr Cowen - who has just a one-vote majority dependent on support from independent lawmakers - would be obliged to dissolve parliament for a snap election if he lost that test.

At stake is the timing of Ireland's next election, and whether a central plank of the republic's deficit-slashing programme will be put on hold until after a new government gains power.

Mr Cowen has pleaded with his wavering deputies in Fianna Fail not to oust him because that could disrupt passage of the 2011 Finance Bill.

It seeks to impose major income-tax hikes and is the last major piece of legislation needed to accompany Ireland's recent 57 billion bail-out agreement with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Ireland has pledged to slash 12.5bn from its deficits by 2014 as part of the foreign rescue.

After the Finance Bill passes, Mr Cowen has pledged to dissolve parliament and call an election in March or April - but insists he won't stand aside for a new leader even then.

Many Fianna Fail MPs fear electoral oblivion if they enter a campaign led by the deeply unpopular Mr Cowen, a gruff former finance minister who gained the top job in mid-2008 as Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" economy was about to suffer critical damage from a property-market collapse that brought the banking sector to its knees.

"Many of my party activists are saying they believe a change in leadership would be appropriate and should happen," said Conor Lenihan, a Fianna Fail MP and younger brother of a potential leadership rival, finance minister Brian Lenihan.

"They don't do this out of malice or bad feeling toward Brian Cowen. They say he's unlucky or not a huge communicator."

Mr Gilmore said Labour's no-confidence vote in parliament would allow MPs of all parties the chance to force an immediate election and end Mr Cowen's delaying tactics.

Mr Cowen's government has an 82-81 edge in parliament. The pro-Cowen total includes six Greens and three independents.