Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is set to meet.......>

IRELAND: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is set to meet with his Cabinet today to

finalise the date for an expected snap general election.

- February 7 is mooted as a likely date according to Irish press.

- At present, Varadkar's Fine Gael (FG) governs as a minority with support in a

confidence-and-supply agreement with their historic rivals, Fianna Fail (FF).

- Most recent opinion polling in late-2019 shows FG with a narrow but consistent

lead over FF. Over Q419 FG polled 29% support, with FF on 26%, Sinn Fein on 15%,

the Green Party on 7% and the centre-left Labour Party on 6%. 

- This compares to 25.5% of FG in the 2016 election, 24.3% for FF, 13.8% for

Sinn Fein, 2.7% for the Greens and 6.6% for Labour. 

- Varadkar is likely seeking to capitalise on the finalisation of a Brexit deal

with the UK, which avoids a hard border between the RoI and Northern Ireland

(for now), and the brokering of a deal that restores devolved gov't to the

Stormont Assembly in Northern Ireland.

- Formation of a gov't after snap vote likely to prove difficult if polls

reflected in result.