Ireland's Green party said Sunday it was pulling out of Prime Minister Brian Cowen's coalition government, in a move likely to spark elections even earlier than those planned for March 11.
Green party leader John Gormley told a press conference in Dublin that "our patience has reached an end" after a week of political turmoil that resulted in Cowen quitting as leader of his ruling Fianna Fail party on Saturday.
However, he said his six lawmakers would support a finance bill considered vital to securing a 67-billion-euro (90-billion-dollar) international bailout agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund in November. "For a very long time we in the Green party have stood back in the hope that Fianna Fail could resolve persistent doubts about their party leadership," Gormley told reporters after hours of talks with his party. "A definitive resolution of this has not yet been possible and our patience has reached an end.