Ministers have again ruled out any pre-election give-away Budget in October.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin were speaking at the National Economic Dialogue at Dublin Castle.

They have insisted they must stick to tax cuts and spending increases of between €1.2bn and €1.5bn.

Minister Howlin said that the scope for any giveaways will be in a few years' time when the recovery has fully taken hold.

"There's no scope for 'give-away' because, if you like, the hallmark of this Government, for four and a half years, is prudent management of the economy," he said.

"And we're not going to put that at risk, because it would undo all the hard work of the Irish people.

"There is now scope to firstly envisage, and then construct, what a recovered Ireland would look like."

Minister Noonan agreed, saying the Budget should focus on building "a just society".

"You can use the tax changes to grow the economy," he said.

"The objectives, I think, that everybody shares here [are] that you can be economically smart and socially just.

"And I think if that's the mantra for budgets ... you're building the country and you're building a just society."