Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Michael McDowell are today expected to discuss the content of the explanation Mr Ahern is due to offer to the Dáil tomorrow about payments he received during the 1990s, writes Mark Hennessy Political Correspondent.
The two, along with close advisers, were in contact over the weekend, as hopes rose substantially in government circles that the threat to the coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrat could be averted.
Though both sides remain tight-lipped, it is understood that Mr McDowell has, so far, not heard anything from Mr Ahern to cause him concern.
However, a first draft of the statement is not yet complete.
Mr Ahern will be closeted with advisers from this evening to draft what is likely to be a brief statement after he returns to Dublin from a constituency visit to North Tipperary this morning with local Fianna Fáil TDs Maire Hoctor and Michael Smith.
However, a question remains about Mr Ahern's tone in the Dáil, following publication of an article under his name in The News of The World, although some government sources warned that the somewhat confrontational attitude displayed in the article should not "be over-emphasised".
In it, Mr Ahern alleged that some people were trying "to drive me from office", and said: "I am happy to answer [ Dáil questions] because I have done nothing wrong."
The Progressive Democrats said the Taoiseach's Dáil statement was what mattered.
"He is saying that he is looking forward to [ it]. We look forward to that as well," said a spokeswoman.
The PDs believe that Mr Ahern must issue some form of an apology to voters for accepting two payments from friends in 1993 and 1994, and one from Manchester-based businessmen in 1994.
Last Thursday, Mr McDowell said Mr Ahern would have to identify the Manchester donors "as best that can be done" and explain why the £8,000 sterling was given, and for what it was used.
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern has signed cheques for more than €90,000 to repay with interest the 12-strong group of Dublin friends, including the former managing director of National City Brokers stockbrokers, Pádraic O'Connor.
Under the Dáil's current agenda, Mr Ahern will have just five minutes to explain the background to the payments.
So far, he has shown little enthusiasm for more time.
Yesterday, one of the donors, property developer John Kennedy, said "quite a number" of those who attended the dinner in the Four Seasons Hotel in Manchester were now dead.
Privately, Fianna Fáil Ministers are confident that the crisis is at an end, pointing to Mr McDowell's interview in The Irish Times on Saturday, in which his wish to keep the Government in existence was clear.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Ahern and Mr McDowell had reached "a secret deal" to ensure that Mr Ahern survived and that the Progressive Democrats leader was not forced to quit just weeks after becoming Tánaiste.
"This determination to refuse to accept responsibility is as clear now as it was when he told the Dáil last Wednesday that it was not wrong to accept this money," Mr Kenny said.
"What happened in 1993 and 1994 was wrong - it was wrong to conceal it for the last 13 years, wrong to hypocritically condemn others while knowing this had gone on, wrong to declare that he had done nothing wrong," he added.
Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said "a succession" of Cabinet ministers had now tied themselves to Mr Ahern's conduct by refusing to see that there was anything wrong about it.
"If they can't say it's wrong then there is something wrong in Irish politics. It was manifestly wrong, the Taoiseach should admit that it was wrong," Mr Rabbitte told TV3's political programme The Political Party.