TDs are being briefed this lunchtime on a potential deal on Irish Water - which could pave the way for a new government.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are holding separate meetings in Leinster House to discuss the compromise plans, proposed last night.

The proposals would see Irish Water transformed from a commercial semi-state body into a state agency - effectively, then, becoming a formal arm of the state.

However this would mean Fine Gael would have to concede that the project will never be removed from the State's balance sheet, and any future borrowing to fund a water upgrade would have to be included in the state's debts.

The newly constituted company would suspend all charges while a system of waivers and allowances is worked out - but, for Fianna Fail, this would not mean the five-year suspension the party campaigned for.

The plan to suspend charges for a limited period has already been attacked by TDs who want them scrapped for good.

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