Minister for Finance Jack Chambers has signalled that the budget will take place on October 1st this year, a week earlier than planned.
The Fianna Fáil TD said the move was due to the scheduled meetings of Eurozone and EU finance ministers which take place in Brussels on October 7th and 8th.
He insisted that moving the date forward was not a signal that an early election was planned saying that the Government would “run its full term”.
However, the earlier-than-planned date will – if the Government wishes to – make it possible to have an election in the middle of November, provided the Coalition pushes the finance bill and the social welfare bill through the Dáil quickly in the first half of October.
More to follow – this is a breaking news story