Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned that prudent economic management is needed following the trauma of the last five years.
Mr Noonan said we now need to be careful "not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg".
He said this meant it was important to stick to the Lansdowne Road Agreement and changing the dates of that agreement ran the risk of meaning that there was no money for anyone.
The Minister also said that would expect Health Minister Simon Harris and the Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe to help the HSE stay within budget.
Mr Noonan said there was a general consensus now that the next couple of years should be focused on spending and investment. He also said that there would be a lot of interchange and communication across the Dáil in the future.
The Minister for Finance also told the Today with Sean O'Rourke programme that he is "quite buoyant" about the country's economic future.
On the Universal Social Charge, Michael Noonan said that based on the model proposed by the Government everyone will gain from its phasing out but they will gain proportionally.
He said the USC was an emergency tax and the Government's first priority is to remove it.
That process has already begun with efforts aimed at helping low and middle income people. Fine Gael calculates those earning up to €70,000 a year as middle income earners.
Roughly 700,000 tax payers have been exempted from the tax already and all tax payers will be exempted within five years, under the Government's latest plans.
He added that it was important to make sure Ireland has the capacity to face any future external shocks.
Mr Doherty, however, said that he had to ask how bad does it need to get before the resources available are used to help those in need.
He said in reality it was a fund for budget overruns, supplementary budgets and if it was a real rainy day fund, it would be allocated to the National Pension Reserve Fund.
Those earning over €70,000 a year will instead pay some sort of "solidarity levy" because otherwise the gains for high earners would be very extravagant, the Minister said.
Mr Noonan said that the rainy day fund would be one that would be deployed if the country suffered another external shock.
On Brexit, Mr Noonan said that there are a number of concerns about the UK leaving the European Union, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland and the fact that Britain is our nearest and biggest trading partner.
He said it was important for the small countries in the EU to have a large economy like the UK to balance out the strong German economy. But he added that if Britain did vote to leave the EU, it would take two years to take effect.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has described the Government's plans to phase out the Universal Social Charge over the next five years as "reckless".
In the Summer Economic Statement yesterday, the Government committed to reforming the income tax system for taxpayers earning up to €70,000 annually.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Doherty said that abolishing the USC would mean a loss of €5.4bn in tax receipts every year.
He said the country needed capital investment and if the Government abandoned its plans to cut USC for this year, it would mean extra funds that could be invested in housing.
He added that Sinn Féin would take low earners out of the USC but those earning over €28,500 should remain in it.
Hospital trolley and housing crises will continue unless the Government changed course on plans to reduce taxes, he said.
He said the best way to protect Ireland against any future shocks to the economy is to invest in proper third level education, infrastructure and broadband.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe said the Government has focused on reforming the tax base and gradually reducing USC.
Doing so, he said, would enable the Government to create more jobs which allows for the creation of better public services.
Speaking on the same programme, Mr Donohoe said for every €1 invested in tax reform, an additional €2 will be invested in public services.
The Government will begin investing €1bn a year in the rainy day fund in 2019, he said.
He added that it was important to make sure Ireland has the capacity to face any future external shocks.
Mr Doherty, however, said that he had to ask how bad does it need to get before the resources available are used to help those in need.
He said in reality it was a fund for budget overruns, supplementary budgets and if it was a real rainy day fund, it would be allocated to the National Pension Reserve Fund.
