The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin were meeting this evening in a bid to find a resolution to the garda whistleblower controversy and avoid a snap election.
The two sides maintained contact during the day as they clarified several issues.
The wrangle surrounds the future of Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, who is under intense pressure to resign over her handling of a 2015 email that revealed attempts to discredit Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe.
Separately, sources have said that Ms Fitzgerald was not told of a conversation between the then Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan and a senior official at the Dept of Justice about the legal dispute which arose at the O'Higgins Commission.
The document details the scope of the search that is set to be completed tomorrow.
The trawl was ordered by the Taoiseach last week after the email sent to Ms Fitzgerald resurfaced.
The opposition has said the Tánaiste should have acted on it when the email was initially sent to her.
Ms Fitzgerald said she did not remember reading the correspondence and she said it made clear that she could not legally intervene.
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Meanwhile, a Government source said the Tánaiste attended an event with Ms O'Sullivan the day after the email was sent to her.
The source said there was no discussion between Ms Fitzgerald or the Commissioner on the day about any matter relating to the Commission, as first reported in the Sunday Business Post.
A Government source said the Taoiseach is doing everything he can to avoid an election, and hopes it will be possible to reach agreement with Mr Martin.
It is understood the talks are at a sensitive stage and there is no question of the Tánaiste being asked to resign.
To date there has been no change in the position of either side on the Tánaiste's future.
Fianna Fáil want Ms Fitzgerald to resign but the Taoiseach has given her his full backing.
The parties are talking but have just two days left to find a compromise, with neither side backing down.
Fianna Fáil has tabled a motion of no confidence in the Tánaiste. If Fianna Fáil supports that motion on Tuesday in the Dáil, then the confidence and supply deal, underpinning the minority coalition, is over.
Phone call between O'Sullivan and Dept is hugely significant, says Kelly
Labour Justice spokesman Alan Kelly has said it is hugely significant that it has emerged that there was a phone call between Ms O'Sullivan and the Department of Justice.
He said it showed ongoing contact between senior gardaí and the Department at the time.
He called on the Department to reveal how long it knew about the legal strategy and he said it was scandalous that it and the Government had refused to provide all the information.
He also accused Fine Gael of preferring to have a general election over telling the truth and he said Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan should "come out from wherever he's hiding" and give full transparency.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Minister for Employment and Social Protection Regina Doherty has said the trawl of documents within the Department of Justice has been carried out to "provide comfort for Fianna Fail, who have their misgivings at the moment".
Ms Doherty also said the move is to show "everything that the Department should have done and could have done was done".
Fianna Fáil's spokesperson on public expenditure and reform Dara Calleary said the current stalemate between his party and Fine Gael is because parliamentary questions put down by Labour's Mr Kelly were not answered.
Mr Calleary said: "The fact that we're doing this trawl now after a tribunal was set up, after a tribunal demanded information, that the Government still aren't confident that the tribunal has all the necessary information is exactly why we're here."
Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said her party's motion of no confidence in Ms Fitzgerald is not calling for a general election, rather it calls for accountability from the Tánaiste.
Ms McDonald said she has no fear of a general election and called for Ms Fitzgerald to stand down.
Independents4Change's Clare Daly said she had been highlighting the garda campaign against Maurice McCabe since May 2016.
Ms Daly said Fianna Fáil were "sick of sitting on the fence" with the confidence and supply agreement and that is why we have the current stalemate.
Costello planning court action to prevent dissolution of Dáil
Meanwhile, former Labour TD Joe Costello has said he intends to go to the High Court tomorrow to prevent any dissolution of the Dáil until planned constituency changes take place.
Mr Costello said that as a result of the last census and a Constituency Commission Report, the Oireachtas is supposed to pass legislation to increase Dáil membership, and that failure to do so could lead to a constitutional challenge.
