Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been warned a second "emergency budget" will be needed next year if a Brexit breakthrough fails to materialise amid growing fears a no deal crisis could cost the State €3.6bn.

Five of the Government’s 20 junior ministers are to lose their jobs after Easter in a cost-cutting reshuffle, the Taoiseach said today.

Government chief whip Pat Carey has defended the amount of junior ministers in the coalition during a Dail debate on whether their numbers should be slashed.

The Government may return early from Easter holidays to debate its emergency Budget, due on April 7.

The Labour Party's finance spokesperson, Joan Burton, is due to meet the head of the Commission on Taxation today.