Simon Coveney has said there is no leadership issue in Fine Gael.
The Enterprise Minister was speaking amid speculation about the future of Leo Varadkar as party leader, and reports of unhappiness within the party ranks.
Anonymous sources speaking to a number of Sunday newspapers questioned the effectiveness of Mr Varadkar's leadership, including describing Fine Gael as directionless.
On Monday, Mr Varadkar said he believes he has the backing of the vast majority of his party.
Asked if there is a leadership issue in Fine Gael, Minister Coveney told Newstalk Breakfast: "No, it's as simple as that - there isn't".
On giveaway measures in Budget 2024, Minister Coveney said they will have to hold something back.
"We're not going to move into the space of spending money in a way that's unsustainable," he said.
"We know in the upcoming budget there will be a lot of money to spend, but there's also going to be money put away for the future.
"What we do have now is a very strong and growing economy that is producing a tax revenue beyond expectations.
"We need to spend some of that tax revenue to ensure that we respond to the pressures that families are under.
"But we've also got to put some of that resource available for the future, to make sure that we don't make the mistakes that were made 20 years ago," he added.
Tara Mines
Minister Coveney said plans to temporarily lay-off 650 workers at Tara Mines in Co Meath took a lot of people by surprise.
"When we got this news yesterday afternoon we looked for a meeting last night with the senior management," he said.
"We spent over an hour with Gunnar Nyström, who's the CEO, and his HR team to really understand what was behind this decision.
"Obviously my job is to protect workers and their families, and all of the other businesses... linked to Tara Mines, and to try make sure that this temporary cessation within Tara Mines is only temporary.
"What they say to me is their projections for this year - at current zinc prices, and with the trends that they've seen in terms of energy costs and other cost inflation - is that they would be making losses of in and around €100 million this year and they simply can't sustain that.
"This was a decision to try and protect the company to allow it to survive in the medium to long-term - that's effectively how this is framed.
"But if you're a worker... this is coming out of the blue," he added.
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