The Taoiseach has said the Government will not increase the funding available for increased spending and tax cuts in the Budget - despite the improvement in the exchequer finances.
Addressing the National Economic Dialogue session at Dublin Castle, Enda Kenny told delegates that in its Spring Economic Statement, the Government had agreed a package of budget measures of between €1.2bn and €1.5bn for 2016, evenly divided between tax and spending measures.
The 140 delegates in attendance at today's event included representatives of the Government, Opposition, employers, unions, farmers and voluntary bodies.
Mr Kenny stressed that despite a stronger than expected performance in tax receipts and public finances since then, the Government remains committed to delivering a budget within these parameters, and was never going back to the "when we have it we spend it" approach to budget management of previous governments.
He said this was consistent with the Expenditure Rule, and with a significant further reduction in borrowing levels next year of close to 1% of GDP.
He said it was a Government priority to ensure that work paid more than welfare - and that the budget would see measures to remove barriers to participation in the labour force - including bringing to 500,000 the number of workers exempted from USC.
He said it was wrong that the Government takes more than half of every extra euro in any pay increases for hundreds of thousands of low- and middle-income families in both the public and private sectors.
He pledged that following the income tax and USC cuts introduced earlier this year, the Government will cut the 7% rate of USC to reduce the marginal tax rate on all those earning less than €70,000 a year to below 50%.
The Taoiseach told delegates that by next year, the Government wanted to see more people returning to Ireland to take up jobs than would be leaving.
Speaking to RTÉ's Today with Sean O'Rourke, Mr Kenny said the Coalition will not go down the road of election promises and put the country in hock.
He also said the next General Election will be held in 2016 and he believes voters will focus on who will be best able to provide economic stability.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin described today's meeting as a good start in building a successful, social and inclusive Ireland.
Asked whether the scope for discussion had been blocked off by the Government's pre-established economic parameters of a maximum of €1.5 billion and the 50:50 split between taxation and spending, he said this was not a parliament - it was a discussion.
He said ultimately parliament makes decisions in a democracy - and they were not going back to a social partnership model where sectoral interests get to make binding decisions.
He noted that the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council had described the €1.5bn budget package as too ambitious - and had recommended a sum of €700m.
He praised the robust discussion that had taken place in the smaller workshops this afternoon.
Dialogue looks at economic and social strategy
Mr Kenny and Michael Noonan have both said today's event was not a return to Social Partnership.
The two-day event was the first such initiative since Social Partnership collapsed in 2009, with the aim being to offer various groups the chance to give their input to budgetary planning.
No actual decisions were reached by the 140 participants as final decision-making powers will be retained by the Government.
Mr Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton opened proceedings, and after the morning's economic presentations, delegates broke into eight private workshops, each chaired by a minister.
Topics such as the economy, unemployment, taxation policy, demographic and environmental challenges and infrastructural investment were discussed.
Tomorrow, rapporteurs will report back on the workshop deliberations but it remains to be seen what actual influence this two-day event will have on the final shape of October's budget.
Employers group Ibec has warned that the Government could be making a huge mistake by "hollowing out" the Universal Social Charge by exempting too many people from it.
Speaking at the meeting in Dublin, Ibec Director General Danny McCoy said that while plans to remove 500,000 people from the USC may be good and noble, it meant that the tax base was being limited once again to a relatively small number of people.
He called for more capital investment in infrastructure, particularly in light of growing demographic pressures due to population growth.
He said the amount of money the Government was earmarking for Budget 2016 at €1.5bn was modest in the context of the current growth rate, and dismissed media commentary about buying elections as facile.
He said they needed to get back to spending 4% of GDP on capital expenditure.
The Construction Industry Federation echoed the Ibec call for a capital spending target of 4% - as with the population set to grow by 600,000 by 2031, additional infrastructure would be needed.
Director General Tom Parlon also called for measures to encourage people to take up trades and apprenticeships to build their skills.
He also described the new Central Bank rules on mortgage lending as an impediment to the recovery of the construction sector.
The chairman of small business body ISME said the budget priority should be to make it worthwhile and profitable to work.
James Coughlan said available resources should be spent on tackling obstacles to employment such as childcare rather than increasing social welfare benefits.
He also pleaded for fairer tax treatment for the self-employed.
ICTU General Secretary Patricia King called for a 2:1 ratio of spending increases versus tax cuts, and called for measures to target people on low and middle incomes.
She said €650m could be raised by further adjustments on the tax side, including reforms of employers' PRSI.
She called for enhanced spending on childcare, lone parent payments and pensions.
She also said social welfare payments must be kept in line with inflation, citing a 1.5% increase.
John Stewart of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed said that even a 6-7% unemployment rate would still be too high - particularly compared to the rates of around 4% during the boom.
He said the definition of full employment would mean that anyone who wanted a job could get a job.
