Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen defied mounting pressure to quit on November 22, saying he would stay in office until parliament passed the budget, then call an early election.

Public anger at his handling of Ireland's economic and banking crisis has only grown since he announced the bailout, and his chances of passing the budget fell dramatically when two independent members of parliament said they were likely to withhold their support.

But Cowen said the national interest required that he press on to unveil a promised four-year austerity package on November 24 and a 2011 budget on December 7.

The government is expected to announce that it will cut the minimum wage, slash social welfare spending, reduce the number of public employees and add a new property tax and higher income taxes in a package intended to slash 6 billion euros off next year's budget, and 15 billion off the annual budget by 2014.

Both the main opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, who are likely to come to power in a coalition after next year's election, had demanded that an election take place before the budget, and seemed unlikely to fall in line soon, if at all.Analysts say most Irish people, who have endured two years of austerity and recession and now face four more years of cuts on foreign lenders' terms, would prefer an immediate election.