fine gael and their friends in fianna fail have been in powerforfar too long.me. the political tempo is increasing in ireland, and that matters in london and brussels, as well as in this city. chris page, bbc news, dublin. football fans are preparing themselves for the final of the world cup on sunday. it's argentina against france. each country has won the tournament twice in the past, but france are hoping to become the first country since brazil in 1962 to win in consecutive competitions. our paris correspondent lucy williamson has this report. for french footballers, team loyalty is a way to win matches. for french fans, it's a way of life. for gion, practising his game near paris this week, not even argentina can shake his faith in the national side. nothing, no fear, because i know that they are the best team in the world and that will never change. i'm only 19 years old, and i would see see my country win a second world cup. at this age it's pretty incredible, so yeah, it definitely means something. argentina's star player lionel messi already knows how

fianna fail, led by micheal martin, fine gael, led by leo varadkar.ons in the irish civil war, about 100 years ago. so, it�*s a bit like the labour party and the conservative party in britain going into coalition together, or the democrats handing over control of the white house to the republicans in the us or vice versa. the parties are broadly of the political centre, but they have been electoral opponents for most of this dates existence. it was, as you say, after a general election back in 2020 that the election results brought them together and they went into government as a coalition. so under that deal, micheal martin has been the head of the irish government, the taoiseach, as he is known. for the first half of the government�*s temple stop this morning, he has really gone to see that irish president, michael d higgins, at his official residence here in dublin to officially offer his resignation. then, mr martin will come back here to the irish parliament in dublin�*s city centre to announce that he has formally resigned, then leo varadkar wil

phil and fine gael, went into government together for the first time.all the more remarkable. so voluntarily today micheal martin has handed over the most importantjob in ireland to leo varadkar, and the proceedings took about two and a half hours in the irish parliament here in dublin. mr martin formally resigned and he went through what he saw as his list of achievements, not least leading ireland through the covid pandemic. and then members of the parliament voted in leo varadkar to take over as taoiseach for the second half of this coalition government's term. leo varadkar has left here and gone to see the irish president, michael d higgins, in his official residence in phoenix park north of the city, but he will be coming back here later on this afternoon where there will be some sort of cabinet reshuffle and it is thought micheal martin will retain a very prominent role in the government, as deputy prime minister. he will be given charge of the department of foreign affairs, basically he will become ireland's chief diplomat. that will be particula

fine gael and their friends in fianna fail have been in power for far too long. all the day's sport now, here's sarah mulkerrins at the bbc sport centre. good evening. it's the game no team wants to be involved in, but croatia manager zlatko dalic said there was a "golden layer" to their world cup bronze medal. they beat the tournament's surprise package, morocco, 2—1 in the third—place play—off at the khalifa international stadium. 0ur correspondent nesta mcgregor reports from qatar. for morocco, this has been a tournament where the team has reached new heights — and every step of the way, their fans have followed. meanwhile, runners—up from last time croatia trying to have a party of their own. it was a toothless 0—0 draw when the teams met in the group stage, butjust seconds into this one, croatia were nearly on the scoresheet. keeper bono inches away from a huge error. soon after, though, morocco were behind. the masked attacker turned out in fact to be a defender. josko gvardiol one of the players of the tournament so far. less than two minutes, the teams we

that dominated irish politics through most of the last century, fianna fail led by micheal martin, fine gael when you consider that those parties grew out of different factions in the irish civil war 100 years ago, well, it does make it all the more remarkable. so, voluntarily today, micheal martin has handed over the most importantjob in ireland to leo varadkar. the proceedings took about two and a half hours in the irish parliament here in dublin. mr martin formally resigned. he, as you would expect, went through what he saw as his list of achievements, not least leading ireland through the covid pandemic. and then members of the parliament voted in mr varadkar to take over as taoiseach for the second half of this coalition government's term. mr varadkar has now left here, gone to see the irish president michael d higgins in his official residence in phoenix park in the north of the city. but he will be coming back here later on this afternoon where there will be some sort of cabinet reshuffle. and it is thought that micheal martin will retain a very prominent role in the government as dep

years, both of these parties have shared power , have sort of shared power, always been a fine a fine gaelou know, fairly centrist, maybe right leaning governments , no sinn leaning governments, no sinn fein, which started out, is the political arm of the ira. so, you know, proper of terrorism , you know, proper of terrorism, you know, proper of terrorism, you know, proper of terrorism, you know, i mean, run by run by people who've killed people, you know , actually, you know, know, actually, you know, ministers and people charge who've part in murders and who've taken part in murders and kneecapping and things like that . well, they're there . well, they're almost there within . reach of power. they've within. reach of power. they've got seats the last the last got 37 seats the last the last election was just one below of what the fianna fail one. and they've sort of been, they've they've sort of been, they've the other parties have done sort of deals slightly , duplicitous of deals slightly, duplicitous deal was claimed by sinn fein to keep sinn fein out of power, but it looks like in th

, both of these parties have sort shared power , have sort of shared power, always been a fine a fine gaelou know, fairly centrist, maybe right leaning governments , no sinn leaning governments, no sinn fein, which started out, is the political arm of the ira. so, you know, proper of terrorism , you know, proper of terrorism, you know, proper of terrorism, you know, proper of terrorism, you know, i mean, run by run by people who've killed people, you know , actually, you know, know, actually, you know, ministers and people charge who've part in murders and who've taken part in murders and kneecapping and things like that . well, they're there . well, they're almost there within . reach of power. they've within. reach of power. they've got seats the last the last got 37 seats the last the last election was just one below of what the fianna fail one. and they've sort of been, they've they've sort of been, they've the other parties have done sort of deals slightly , duplicitous of deals slightly, duplicitous deal was claimed by sinn fein to keep sinn fein out of power, but it looks like in th