THE GOVERNMENT'S deal with the EU/IMF should be put before the Dáil for a vote, according to two of Fianna Fáil's young backbench TDs.

Meath East TD Thomas Byrne and Cork South-Central TD Michael McGrath have tabled a motion on the agenda of this week's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting about the controversial EU/IMF deal to "call the opposition parties' bluff".

Byrne and McGrath's are tabling their joint motion that the memorandum of understanding between the Irish government and the EU/IMF should be put before the Dáil for approval "to add legitimacy to the agreement and to force the opposition to take a definitive position on the matter."

It remains to be seen whether the move will be welcomed by the government as it could pose a further headache given the tight Dáil arithmetic.

The government's attention is firmly fixed on getting Tuesday's budget through the Dáil and the motion may be viewed as an unwanted distraction for a government that is dependent on the votes of independent TDs Jackie Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry.

However, there is a view among government TDs such as Byrne and McGrath that the opposition parties have been disingenuous in their criticism of the EU/IMF deal as they would support it if they were in government.

There is a school of thought that the opposition's "bluff" would be called if there was a vote on the memorandum of understanding in the Dáil.