Leo Varadkar and Micheal Martin will hold their crunch election date meeting tomorrow.
A senior source told Dublin Live: “There is basically only one thing on the agenda, the timing of the next General Election.”
Both leaders said they would prefer an election in April or May, but the decision lies with the Taoiseach and he could call a February poll as early as this week.
Dublin Live revealed before Christmas the orders for the printing of ballot papers to be ready for polling stations by February 1 are in.
If the Dail is to realistically last any longer than January, a deal will have to be struck between the leaders at the make-or-break meeting.
The pair have been communicating via letters which have found their way into the media over the past month.
This will be the first time they will actually sit down face-to-face to discuss when the election will be.
Mr Varadkar has said Fine Gael want closure on a number of issues, including an agreement on property tax policy, the passing of effective climate action legislation and the completion of special Dail inquiries into Votergate, the alleged irregular voting of Fianna Fail Dail deputies.
Mr Martin will want assurances there is a procedure where Dara Murphy will be held to account for his double-jobbing in Brussels and Dublin while claiming massive expenses of more than €50,000-a-year from the taxpayer.
He also has a shopping list of legislation Fianna Fail wants passed before Easter.
If negotiations break down, Mr Varadkar has already scheduled a special meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party for this Friday.
If the Taoiseach and Mr Martin have a row, Mr Varadkar could use this meeting to send his troops to the country.
