Cabinet completes first meeting

The cabinet has completed its first full meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin.

14 of the ministers met for almost three hours, with Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy briefing his colleagues on the issue of public pay.

The matter is expected to be one of the first challenges for the new Government, with the benchmarking body expected to report at the end of this month on pay rises due to public servants.

The only minister absent from the meeting was Dermot Ahern as he is in Luxembourg for talks at the EU council of fisheries.