Promises to the electorate of slashing taxes and restore spending cuts are “fanciful” and “nonsense”, according to Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, who wants the 2016 Budget to be viewed as “the first of the recovery of budgets of a new parliament a new Dáil.”

“People who put forward those suggestions have to be confronted and (the Labour party) will do that,” Mr Howlin added, as he laid out the government’s plan for re-election during an interview with The Pat Kenny Show.

With the most recent poll showing a combined support for the current Government coalition parties of 38%, there is some hope for Labour and Fine Gael of a possible return to power.

Mr Howlin said there are no alternatives to the current coalition for people looking for stability: “If you look objectively the only credible government into the future is the maintenance of the current govt."

“The two parties that are currently in govt have 38% - that’s not an impossible step away from an overall majority,” he said.

The weekend’s political discussion was filled with talk of potential Budget treats to come for the electorate, but Mr Howling insisted there is no chance that all of the rumoured spending and tax cuts can come to fruition.

“We cannot spend more than the mathematical fiscal space that we have,” he said.

The combined space is “likely to be €1.5bn, divided between taxation and expenditure,” meaning much of the rumoured measures won’t be feasible, despite reports to the contrary, he said.

“I’d used up the physical space before I’d read the first Sunday paper,” he said.

“We’ve all got used to Budget speculation; it’s become negative speculation in the time of retrenchment ... now I suppose as we emerge people are putting out their own views, some of them real, some of them not so real,” he said.

Mr Howlin discussed cuts to USC for relatively lower wage earners, health spending and the refugee crisis.

Listen to the full interview with Brendan Howlin below