The Tánaiste has ruled out any return to social partnership, echoing comments by the Finance Minister.

But Joan Burton says there is "scope" to sit down with trade unions to discuss their plans for the future.

Social Partnership ended in 2009, with the onset of the recession leading to its end. With recovery now seemingly underway there have been calls for its reintroduction.

Burton’s comments come after the Finance Minister said social partnership had been "a failure" and wouldn't be returning.

Joan Burton says she'd like to see some sort of "social dialogue" to map out a way forward for Ireland.

“Nobody envisions going back to the old style social partnership,” said Ms Burton.

“But, there is an absolute role for social dialogue - meetings between Government, employers and trade unions with a view to getting people back to work and assisting the economy to grow,” she added.

The General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg, has been defending the social partnership model, saying he believes it is an ideal system for small open economies like Ireland:

“That’s the type of system that most of the Nordic countries and countries like the Netherlands run,” he said.

“Countries that might be comparable to ourselves in terms of size and the most successful countries in the world in terms of economic efficiency and social cohesion,” he added.