Housing, welfare and health are sticking points as budget haggling goes to 11th hour

A special 11th hour Cabinet meeting for today has been requested by ministers in a bid to overcome a myriad of outstanding difficulties in agreeing tomorrow’s budget.

Five ministers, speaking to the Irish Examiner, have said they would think it would be prudent to hold a meeting today to overcome “urgent” issues relating to social welfare, health and housing measures.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe is facing a race against time to finalise his budget amid strong disagreement within Cabinet as to the make up of the spending increases. He is to meet with Fine Gael ministers Eoghan Murphy and Regina Doherty this morning to resolve outstanding measures as Independent members of Cabinet have revealed substantial work remains to be done.