Ireland's outgoing prime minister said Friday that he will announce a new date for early elections next week, according to AP. Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he intends to ask President Mary McAleese on Tuesday to dissolve the Dail, the national Parliament. Once that is done, an election must be held within 30 days. He spoke Friday in an interview with Irish-language Radio na Gaeltachta. Cowen, who was Ireland's finance minister from 2004 to 2008, is widely blamed for Ireland's stunning slide from Celtic Tiger boom economy to the brink of bankruptcy. His Fianna Fail party, which has won the most seats in parliament in every election since 1932, is expected this time to suffer a crushing defeat. Cowen has resigned as leader of Fianna Fail party and won't be leading the party's campaign. That role falls to former Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin, who won the leadership on Wednesday. Cowen previously proposed an election date of March 11 but the date is now expected to be in late February. Later Friday, the upper house of parliament debates a Finance Bill that will raise taxes and slash spending to comply with terms of a ¤67.5 billion ($91 billion) bailout loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. Final passage is expected Friday or Saturday. Fianna Fail is widely expected to face a drubbing in the national election, with betting running heavily in favor of the next government being a coalition of current opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour. In that event, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny would succeed Cowen as leader of the government.
