The Taoiseach has ordered that a significant portion of the Cabinet meeting today be given over to try and eliminate tensions between the coalition parties.

€130 million of cuts by Health Minister James Reilly and the public and political storm since last Thursday is expected to be discussed at length.

The cuts announced last Thursday have angered many in Labour and Fine Gael with claims Minister Reilly had gone on a solo run.

That now being denied by sources close to Minister Reilly who say his  2 juniors – both from Labour – were informed of the cuts well before they were announced.

And there is an insistence that another Labour Minister Brendan Howlin would have been aware of the planned cuts during talks that went on for 5 weeks.

Later today Ministers gather for the first Cabinet meeting after the summer break with tensions high.

The Taoiseach is keen to ease those tensions and has ordered that much of the meeting be given over for political discussion to put forward a show of unity.

But one thing certain is that Ministers have no intention of doing any form of u-turn on the cuts.

The Agriculture Minister says any talk of a coalition split is exaggerated and any suggestion of an early election is not real.

Minister Simon Coveney says there is a respectful relationship between Labour and Fine Gael Ministers but he acknowledged there are differences of opinions.

You might also like

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/cabinet-to-consider-measures-to-tackle-alcohol-abuse/">Cabinet to consider measures to tackle alcohol abuse

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/cabinet-meets-final-time-before-summer-break/">Cabinet meets final time before summer break

href="http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/calls-for-cabinet-confidentiality-to-be-lifted-for-bank-inquiry/">Calls for Cabinet confidentiality to be lifted for bank inquiry