Government Ministers have been given until Friday to identify up to €100 million more in public spending cuts to prevent a budget deficit at the end of the year.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has issued an ultimatum to Cabinet colleagues that curbs on spending be finalised in time for the last Government meeting before Ministers take their summer holidays.
Public spending has increased by 21 per cent in the first six months of the year but Mr McCreevy is still determined to bring in a budget surplus.
He has told Ministers that they will have cuts imposed on them if they do not come up with cost savings themselves.
The cuts will come in the wake of a number of belt-tightening measures announced in the last few weeks.
They included a freeze on the appointment of 800 health service jobs; a 69 per cent increase in third-level college charges, and an €32 million reduction in foreign aid.
The VHI also got Government approval this week for an 18 per cent subscription increase from September.
Yesterday it emerged that the ESB was reviewing its charges, with reports that domestic and business customers face a 15 per cent rise from the autumn.
The Opposition parties last night called for a special Dáil debate in September to discuss the latest round of cutbacks, and accused the Government of "cynical deceit" of the public by not revealing the true state of the public finances during the general election campaign.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, has to shave €25 million from her budget, while the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has to find €15 million in savings.
This is on top of the savings he made by cancelling the contract for five new Sikorsky helicopters.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is also under pressure to come up with savings.
He confirmed yesterday that a toll on major roads is one long-term measure his department is looking at to ensure that the road-building programme stayed on target.
He is facing a €500 million road-building shortfall for this year. It is understood that the proposed toll would be put on roads linking Dublin and the county's major cities, Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick.
The new National Development Finance Agency - promised in the Programme for Government - will have the job of raising finance for infrastructural projects.
A memo on the new agency will be going to Cabinet on Friday and legislation paving the way for its establishment will be before the Dáil in October.
It is planned that the agency will be operating by January 2003.
A spokesman for Mr Brennan stressed yesterday that other measures being looked at were "road rental" - where roads would be built privately and rented back to the Government - and an expansion of public-private partnerships for road building. Government sources last night predicted a tough week, with Ministers expected to clash with Mr McCreevy following his ultimatum of a spending clawback.
Some Departments will escape, including Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs; Agriculture and Food; Arts; and Sport and Tourism.
However sources say they will not get the increases they would like in next year's estimates. Fine Gael's spokesman on Enterprise and Employment, Mr Phil Hogan, called on the Government to postpone the public spending cuts until the Dáil could meet.
The Labour Party spokesman on Justice, Mr Pat Rabbitte, accused the Government of a "cynical deception" of the electorate during the recent general election campaign.