Government ministers have had their spending wish-lists for next year reduced by hundreds of millions of euro by the three-man committee set up by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to vet the 2003 Estimates.
The report of the so-called "three wise men", who have been poring over Departmental spending proposals in recent weeks, has been submitted to the Minister. It is understood that the committee has ruled out spending requests across all Departments.
Mr McCreevy faces tough battles with Cabinet colleagues on the Estimates ahead of their publication in mid-November. He has told ministers that they will have to significantly revise their spending plans downward as he faces into one of the toughest financial periods since the mid-1980s.
The estimates committee, made up of Mr Maurice O'Connell, former governor of the Central Bank, and two other former senior civil servants, Mr Dermot Quigley and Mr Kevin Bonner, has had tough meetings with a procession of senior civil servants from all Departments.
One Cabinet minister told The Irish Times that it was clear that Mr McCreevy had received the report before last week's Cabinet meeting. "He again warned us that the public finance situation was going to be very tight for next year and that everyone had to make sacrifices."
When Mr McCreevy prepared his June memo outlining cuts of €900 million for next year, he believed that the tax receipts shortfall this year would be €300 million. However, since then it has emerged that the Government could be facing a shortfall of up to €1.3 billion, as slower economic growth has dramatically reduced tax revenues.