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DUBLIN — Ireland’s embattled prime minister said Friday he would dissolve Parliament on Tuesday and announce a new date for elections, as the upper house began debate on legislation to slash spending and raise taxes.
The election is expected to result in a drubbing for Brian Cowen’s Fianna Fail, Ireland’s long dominant political party, and usher in a new team led by the Fine Gael party.
Cowen, who was Ireland’s finance minister from 2004 to 2008, is widely blamed for Ireland’s stunning slide from its Celtic Tiger boom economy to the brink of bankruptcy.
