A second cabinet meeting may be needed later this week to approve an appeal against the Apple tax ruling.

Government sources have suggested no decision will be reached today, with the Independent Alliance yet to agree to an appeal.

Fine Gael is understood to be keen that a decision is made in the coming days, in order to send a clear response to Brussels.

But independent ministers remain uneasy about the prospect - and are fearful of the image of rebuffing a €13 billion tax demand from the richest company in the world.

Throughout the morning Fine Gael ministers had been lining up to condemn the European Commission's finding.

But on his way into today's meeting, Enda Kenny said the 150-page ruling from the Commission needed to be considered in depth - and hinted that a decision may not be reached today.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: