Boris Johnson quits as PM
Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson announced on Thursday he would quit as British prime minister after he was abandoned by ministers and most of his Conservative lawmakers.
Bowing to the inevitable as more than 50 ministers quit and lawmakers said he must go, an isolated and powerless Mr Johnson spoke outside his Downing Street to confirm he would resign.
"The process of choosing that new leader should begin now. And today I have appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will until a new leader is in place," Mr Johnson said.
The resignation led Taoiseach Micheál Martin to admit “strained” relations with Mr Johnson's government, while the leader of Ireland's largest opposition party Sinn Féin said he will “not be missed”.
Sinn Féin to table no-confidence motion
Sinn Féin is likely to table a motion of no confidence in the Government next week and is appealing to Independent TDs to stop supporting the Coalition.
The party will meet on Friday morning to decide whether to proceed with a confidence vote in the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party coalition.
The move comes after the Government lost its Dáil majority on Wednesday night, when Fine Gael TD Joe McHugh resigned the party whip over the mica redress scheme.
Mr McHugh’s defection means that the number of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Greens TDs currently under their party whips no longer forms a majority in the Dáil. He has said that he will be looking at every Dáil vote in the future as “an individual”.
First Home Scheme
A new Government scheme, set up to make it easier for first-time buyers to afford a new build home, has opened for business today.
The €400 million 'First Home Scheme' aims to bridge an existing affordability gap by providing buyers with part of the purchase price for their home, in return for the scheme taking a minority equity stake.
The maximum stake that the scheme will take is 20 per cent, if the buyer is also availing of the Government's separate Help to Buy scheme, and 30 per cent if this is not used.
The scheme is available initially to first-time buyers and other qualifying homebuyers, including people affected by a relationship breakdown or insolvency, who are taking out mortgages from AIB, Bank of Ireland or Permanent TSB.
Consultants on 'intolerable' ED situation
Consultants at the midwest’s main hospital have written to the chief executive of the UL Hospitals Group calling for the end for the "current intolerable situation for patients and staff" at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
In a letter to Colette Cowan, 11 consultants working at UHL have expressed their "deep concern" over patient safety at the hospital.
They have also stated that junior doctors at the hospital are being put under "inordinate pressure" in order to maintain acceptable clinical standards at the hospital.
In their letter, the consultants state: "It is clear that confidence in management structures in the hospital has been severely eroded over the past six to eight months, and such confidence we believe is at an all-time low."
