The secretary general of the Department of Finance is writing to opposition parties this evening to offer official information in advance of the publication of the Government's four-year budgetary strategy next month.
The move was agreed at today's Cabinet meeting, following Opposition requests for firm figures on which to base their proposals.
An official will give each party 'factual information on the economic and budgetary parameters', and costings on proposals if required.
Cabinet was also briefed by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan on a meeting yesterday with the Public Sector Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, at which he told unions that the Government intends to comply with the terms of the Croke Park Agreement.
Earlier, Fine Gael's front bench issued a statement saying it agreed that the deficit/GDP ratio must be reduced to 3% by 2014, as agreed between the Government and the EU Commission.
It also said it accepted that the budgetary changes needed were above what was already agreed, but added that the party would make an independent decision and would not be bound by the Government's targets in November.
The party's front bench also ruled out a second Tallaght Strategy, saying the context was different.
In the Dáil this afternoon, the Taoiseach told the Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore that his party's proposals on banking would have brought a nuclear winter to the economy with thousands of job losses. During Leaders' Questions, Brian Cowen said the Government's strategy for dealing with the banks had been validated by a number of independent reports.
Deputy Gilmore had asked the Taoiseach if he was aware that Anglo Irish Bank was facing insolvency before the Government issued a blanket guarantee to all six financial institutions.
