Political heads to meet on consensus plan

A summit of Government and Opposition leaders aimed at reaching consensus on a four-year budget plan will take place this afternoon.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen says the national interest is best served by seeing what degree of consensus can be achieved in dealing with the next four budgets.

The Taoiseach will host a meeting with Green leader John Gormley, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour's Eamon Gilmore this afternoon.

But the Opposition leaders are wary of what's being asked of them.

In the Dáil last night Eamon Gilmore summed it up, saying they were being asked to solve the problem, the people were being asked to pay for it, and all the time the Taoiseach wants to stay in office.

And Fine Gael is trying to wriggle out of the trap of agreeing with the Government by demanding an independent evaluation of the figures given by the Department of Finance.