The Sun may well have saved the Fine Gael government,

The Republic of Ireland may be faced with a General Election in which the UK and Brexit may play the major  role.

The government led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkarhas   been gripped by political turmoil with the country's deputy prime minister facing a no confidence vote, which could bring down the entire government.

Fianna Fail, which is in a supply and confidence agreement with the Fine Gael-led Irish government, has proposed a confidence motion to be debated next Tuesday.

If the government loses that vote, as expected, an election would be called, which could be held possibly before Christmas.

The motion of confidence is based on concerns over the Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald's handling of a whistleblower controversy involving a police officer, from when she was justice minister.

But, on Thursday night, Fine Gael passed a motion in support of Ms Fitzgerald, with  Taoiseach  Varadkar saying he would not sacrifice his deputy on what he branded a trumped-up charge.

If an election  is called then the UK government and media attitude to Irish concerns over the Land Boarder may well strengthen Mr Varadkar hand .

The Irish government wants a written guarantee that there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland, something Dublin believes can only be achieved, in effect, by keeping the region within the single market and customs union
Standing up to Britain has never been a vote loser in the Republic and Mr Varadkar could very well play on this .

It is doubtful if any of the opposition parties  will have any sympathy for the UK position, but  Irish voters may well think such headlines as   the Sun's
 

"Ireland's naive young prime minister should shut his gob on Brexit and grow up".

May well have the effect of voters backing Mr Varadkar.

Indeed he may well win a vote of confidence as TD's  

Support for his  party Fine Gael may have dropped  Mr Varadkar dropped two points to 27 percent in the Sunday Business Post/Red C poll, only marginally ahead of the 25.5 percent it achieved at last year's election and its worst performance in recent opinion polls.

Fellow centre-right party Fianna Fail rose to 26 percent from 25 percent a month ago and leftwing opposition Sinn Fein were up two points to 16 percent, both also marginally higher than the last election.

The survey was taken between November 20 and 24, the day the crisis escalated rapidly and suggested the parties would struggle to form anything but another minority administration.

But opposition party strategist may well take into account the whole a vote against  Mr Varadkar is a vote for the Bullying  Brits.

Meanwhile Ireland’s European commissioner has urged Theresa May to change her Brexit plans dramatically to prevent a mounting crisis over the Irish border from derailing her hopes of an EU trade deal.
 
The threat of a hard Irish border has emerged as the major obstacle to the UK prime minister’s aim of securing the green light for Brexit trade talks at a crucial summit only weeks away. She has effectively been handed just days to give stronger guarantees over the issue.

Phil Hogan, the EU’s agriculture commissioner, told the Observer that it was a “very simple fact” that remaining inside the single market and customs union, or allowing Northern Ireland to do so, would end the standoff.


Hogan warned there was “blind faith” from some UK ministers that Britain would secure a comprehensive Brexit free trade deal. He warned that Ireland would “continue to play tough to the end” over its threat to veto trade talks until it had guarantees over the border.

“If the UK or Northern Ireland remained in the EU customs union, or better still the single market, there would be no border issue,” he said. “That’s a very simple fact. I continue to be amazed at the blind faith that some in London place in theoretical future free trade agreements. First, the best possible FTA with the EU will fall far short of the benefits of being in the single market. This fact is simply not understood in the UK. Most real costs to cross-border business today are not tariffs – they are about standards, about customs procedures, about red tape. These are solved by the single market, but not in an FTA.”

The vote in the Dail may well lead to a Irish General Election but I doubt even a change of government will move Ireland's opposition to a  hard boarder one iota.