The Taoiseach and Tánaiste are expected to agree a date for the abortion referendum at a meeting this morning. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, would then sign an order for the poll to take place in March.
The meeting comes ahead of the Dáil's resumption this afternoon for what may be the last full session before the general election. The election is expected to be held in mid-May, which would require Mr Ahern to dissolve the Dáil shortly after Easter.
The resumption of the Dáil, with the election so close, will put strong pressure on deputies anxious to retain their seats. The Government Chief Whip, Mr Séamus Brennan, launching what was effectively the Government's final legislation programme, made a plea yesterday for general election fever not to get out of control.
"All I'm saying is could we cut the election talk for the moment, get the work done and then we can get on with the election," he said. He was determined it would not be a "lame duck" Dáil and would finish the work it had to do.
This session will be dominated by the Finance Bill, due to be published next week, and the Social Welfare Bill, giving effect to the Budget's measures.
The Government's record on tackling crime will be highlighted in the Dáil tomorrow. Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens will table a private members' motion condemning "the dismal failure to tackle spiralling crime, which has seen a 131 per cent increase in serious assaults throughout the country, and over 29 assaults per day".
Meanwhile, the abortion poll is most likely to take place in the first half of March. The Tánaiste has had discussions with parliamentary party colleagues over the last few days concerning their attitude to the referendum.
Ms Harney said earlier this week that from the outset they wanted to see the "middle ground" supporting this proposal.
One party source said yesterday they were still "obviously uncomfortable" that the "middle ground on this is not as broad as it might be, which obviously leads to reservations".
However, an abortion referendum had to be held if the X case was to be dealt with, and it was important the referendum did not get "mixed up" with the election campaign. "If you accept the X case has to be dealt with, the only question that arises is when will the question be put," the source said.
Saturday's Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll showed the outcome of a referendum to be in doubt. A TG4/MRBI poll, published yesterday, shows that 36 per cent of respondents said they would vote Yes, while the same number said they would vote No. It shows that 23 per cent of people have not yet made up their minds.
Although the Government is expected to tackle its difficulties over abortion today, serious difficulties remain between the Coalition partners on whether to build a national stadium. It may be mid-February before the Cabinet considers the independent consultant's report on the matter.
The Minister for Sport, Dr McDaid, said yesterday there were serious issues to be addressed in the report. "I want to make it clear there is no great chasm between ourselves and the Progressive Democrats with regard to the national stadium . . . We both feel the country needs and deserves a stadium, but we are also conscious of the cost factors," he said on Today FM.
The Minister said meetings had taken place recently between himself, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the PD Minister of State, Mr Robert Molloy, to discuss the project ahead of a discussion between the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.