The Tánaiste says a vote transfer pact between Labour and Fine Gael could guarantee a stable economic future for Ireland.
Joan Burton's comments pave the way for an official transfer pact between the two parties ahead of the next election.
She's due to ask the party's annual think-in, in Wicklow next week, to sign off on the deal so that Labour voters would be asked to give their next preferences to Fine Gael candidates, and vice-versa.
But one Fine Gael TD has suggested the two parties could go further - and offer joint policies in certain areas.
And the party's former advisor Frank Flannery has suggested the two parties should offer a clear platform to voters on what they would intend to do with their second term - in order words, to agree a programme for government before seeking votes at all.
It is not clear whether Labour would support such an idea, having already lost some of its own identity after four-and-a-half years of coalition with Fine Gael.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
