Cabinet remain defiant over Máire Whelan selection amid 'election' threats

A defiant Leo Varadkar and his ministers are standing over the appointment of the former attorney general to a top judicial job despite mounting threats by Fianna Fáil to force a snap general election.

Cabinet members have called the opposition party’s bluff and insist no law or rule was broken in promoting lawyer Máire Whelan to the €180,000-a year Court of Appeal position.

The row over the judicial appointment will come before Cabinet tomorrow and ministers, including the former justice minister, Frances Fitzgerald, also face pressure to make Dáil statements about it.