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Mr Cowen is facing an attack from within his own Fianna Fail party
</div> Calls are mounting for Irish leader Brian Cowen to quit over the country's 90bn-euro (£77bn, $124bn) bail-out by the EU and IMF.
Mr Cowen has phoned opposition leaders in what is seen as a bid to win support for delaying an election until a new budget is passed next month.
He announced on Monday that a general election would be held next year.
But the opposition is said to want a poll now and his own backbenchers are considering a no-confidence vote.
The government is due to publish a four-year economic recovery plan on Wednesday.
But the truth is the government is not expected to last another four months itself, the BBC's Mark Simpson reports from Dublin.
With the Dail (parliament) due to vote on the budget on 7 December, the coalition made up of Mr Cowen's Fianna Fail party and the Greens has just a three-seat majority, and faces a by-election on Thursday which it is expected to lose.
Late on Monday, the taoiseach (prime minister) phoned Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore.
Formally, Mr Cowen offered to make available to them the financial advice underpinning the proposed budget, the Irish Times reports.
But the phone calls signalled a first move in a strategy to persuade the opposition to let the budget pass, the paper says.
It is understood that both Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore told Mr Cowen they wanted to see an immediate dissolution of the Dail with an election before, rather than after, the budget.
Both men were due to consult senior party colleagues on Tuesday morning about Mr Cowen's offer but Fine Gael's deputy leader, James Reilly, was scathing: "What's the point in people preparing a four-year plan that they're not going to preside over and they won't be able to implement and that they haven't consulted the people on?"
A number of TDs (members of the Dail) from Fianna Fail are due to meet on Tuesday to discuss a motion of no confidence, said one of them, John McGuinness.
"There's serious discontent within the parliamentary party," he said.
"I believe it's now up to those who've spoken out to take soundings amongst their colleagues to take action to remove that man [Mr Cowen] immediately."
According to the lead story in Tuesday's Irish Independent, Mr Cowen's days as Fianna Fail leader were "numbered despite his pledge to limp on in power".
"I predict murder at the parliamentary party [meeting]," one unnamed backbencher told the paper.
"There'll be war there. I know there will."
The radical nationalist party Sinn Fein looks set to win Thursday's by-election in Donegal South West.
What went wrong in the Irish Republic
The 1990s were good for the Irish Republic's economy, with low unemployment, high economic growth and strong exports creating the Celtic Tiger economy. Lots of multi-national companies set up in the Republic to take advantage of low tax rates.
At the beginning of 1999, Ireland adopted the euro as its currency, which meant its interest rates were set by the European Central Bank and suddenly borrowing money became much cheaper.
Cheap and easy lending and rising immigration fuelled a construction and house price boom. The government began to rely more on property-related taxes while the banks borrowed from abroad to fund the housing boom.
All this left Ireland ill-equipped to deal with the credit crunch. The construction sector was hit hard, house prices collapsed, the banks had a desperate funding crisis and the government was receiving much too little tax revenue.
The economy has shrunk and the government has bailed out the banks. A series of cost-cutting budgets have cut spending, benefits and public sector wages and raised taxes. But there are still doubts about future government funding.
The main concern for the Republic's economy is its banks, most of which are now controlled by the government. They have had to borrow at least 83bn euros (£71bn) from the European Central Bank because other banks will not lend to them.
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Meanwhile, opinion polls suggest Fianna Fail's traditional rival Fine Gael now has the biggest support nationwide.
According to a poll published on Sunday, Fine Gael has 33% and Fianna Fail 17%, while Labour has 27% and Sinn Fein 11%.
In other bad news for Mr Cowen, two independent TDs helping to prop up his coalition said they could not give a commitment to support the budget unless the opposition had a hand in drafting it.
Mr Cowen's budget envisages savings of 6bn euros. His four-year plan calls for significant reforms to the tax system and cuts to social welfare.
The crisis in the Irish Republic was brought on by the global recession and almost total collapse of the country's banks.
Once known as the Celtic Tiger for its strong economic growth - helped by low corporate tax rates - the country experienced a property bubble burst, leaving its banks with huge liabilities and pushing up the cost of borrowing for them and the government.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mr Cowen is facing an attack from within his own Fianna Fail party </div> Calls are mounting for Irish leader Brian Cowen to quit over the country's 90bn-euro (£77bn, $124bn) bail-out by the EU and IMF.
Mr Cowen has phoned opposition leaders in what is seen as a bid to win support for delaying an election until a new budget is passed next month.
He announced on Monday that a general election would be held next year.
But the opposition is said to want a poll now and his own backbenchers are considering a no-confidence vote.
The government is due to publish a four-year economic recovery plan on Wednesday.
But the truth is the government is not expected to last another four months itself, the BBC's Mark Simpson reports from Dublin.
With the Dail (parliament) due to vote on the budget on 7 December, the coalition made up of Mr Cowen's Fianna Fail party and the Greens has just a three-seat majority, and faces a by-election on Thursday which it is expected to lose.
Late on Monday, the taoiseach (prime minister) phoned Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore.
“I predict murder at the parliamentary party [meeting]”
Unnamed backbencher in Brian Cowen's Fianna Fail party But the phone calls signalled a first move in a strategy to persuade the opposition to let the budget pass, the paper says.
It is understood that both Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore told Mr Cowen they wanted to see an immediate dissolution of the Dail with an election before, rather than after, the budget.
Both men were due to consult senior party colleagues on Tuesday morning about Mr Cowen's offer but Fine Gael's deputy leader, James Reilly, was scathing: "What's the point in people preparing a four-year plan that they're not going to preside over and they won't be able to implement and that they haven't consulted the people on?"
A number of TDs (members of the Dail) from Fianna Fail are due to meet on Tuesday to discuss a motion of no confidence, said one of them, John McGuinness.
"There's serious discontent within the parliamentary party," he said.
"I believe it's now up to those who've spoken out to take soundings amongst their colleagues to take action to remove that man [Mr Cowen] immediately."
According to the lead story in Tuesday's Irish Independent, Mr Cowen's days as Fianna Fail leader were "numbered despite his pledge to limp on in power".
"I predict murder at the parliamentary party [meeting]," one unnamed backbencher told the paper.
"There'll be war there. I know there will."
The radical nationalist party Sinn Fein looks set to win Thursday's by-election in Donegal South West.
What went wrong in the Irish Republic
The 1990s were good for the Irish Republic's economy, with low unemployment, high economic growth and strong exports creating the Celtic Tiger economy. Lots of multi-national companies set up in the Republic to take advantage of low tax rates. At the beginning of 1999, Ireland adopted the euro as its currency, which meant its interest rates were set by the European Central Bank and suddenly borrowing money became much cheaper. Cheap and easy lending and rising immigration fuelled a construction and house price boom. The government began to rely more on property-related taxes while the banks borrowed from abroad to fund the housing boom. All this left Ireland ill-equipped to deal with the credit crunch. The construction sector was hit hard, house prices collapsed, the banks had a desperate funding crisis and the government was receiving much too little tax revenue. The economy has shrunk and the government has bailed out the banks. A series of cost-cutting budgets have cut spending, benefits and public sector wages and raised taxes. But there are still doubts about future government funding. The main concern for the Republic's economy is its banks, most of which are now controlled by the government. They have had to borrow at least 83bn euros (£71bn) from the European Central Bank because other banks will not lend to them.BACK {current} of {total} NEXT
Meanwhile, opinion polls suggest Fianna Fail's traditional rival Fine Gael now has the biggest support nationwide.
According to a poll published on Sunday, Fine Gael has 33% and Fianna Fail 17%, while Labour has 27% and Sinn Fein 11%.
In other bad news for Mr Cowen, two independent TDs helping to prop up his coalition said they could not give a commitment to support the budget unless the opposition had a hand in drafting it.
Mr Cowen's budget envisages savings of 6bn euros. His four-year plan calls for significant reforms to the tax system and cuts to social welfare.
The crisis in the Irish Republic was brought on by the global recession and almost total collapse of the country's banks.
Once known as the Celtic Tiger for its strong economic growth - helped by low corporate tax rates - the country experienced a property bubble burst, leaving its banks with huge liabilities and pushing up the cost of borrowing for them and the government.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.