The Finance Minister has reiterated that the Government was targeting a deficit of no more than 0.1% in the Budget.
But Pascal Donohoe said that if opportunities presented themselves during the year to go beyond that, that was something the Government could consider.
The Minister made his comments at the second day of the National Economic Dialogue in Dublin Castle today.
He said a deficit of 0.1% - combined with the setting up of a rainy day fund - would mark the second year in a row when the books were broadly balanced and the national finances had improved over the previous year.
Mr Donohoe stressed that the Government would be increasing capital expenditure by €1.5 billion next year - and a major beneficiary of that funding would be Minister Eoghan Murphy to address the Ireland 2040 programme.
The Minister said he was committed to tax reform, and indicated that one of his priorities would be to address the situation where someone on an average income could be paying the higher rate of tax.
He said last year's Budget showed that by broadening the tax base and making careful choices about current expenditure, the Government could continue to make a difference.
Meanwhile, senior health service managers will have to adopt higher levels of personal accountability for budgetary spending in return for the government delivering major new investment, the Minister also said today.
Asked about the Taoiseach's criticisms yesterday of health budgets, Mr Donohoe said establishing a strengthened HSE board - as well as new management leadership - were key changes that would have to accompany increased funding for the health sector.
He said that the introduction of a healthcare framework like Slaintecare would have to be accompanied by a higher level of personal accountability in relation to health expenditure.
Minister Donohoe acknowledged that there had been a massive amount of debate in the Oireachtas in recent years as to the appropriate governance model for the health service.
Earlier this week it emerged that the HSE had accrued a deficit of €101.5m for just the first two months of 2018.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said yesterday that the health service posed the greatest reform challenge - adding that it was difficult to justify expenditure of €15 billion this year in light of Ireland's relatively young population.
