It seems the era of austerity is over.
It's been confirmed that the Budget being announced next month will have virtually no austerity measures whatsoever.
The public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin says the public finances are far healthier than expected - and there's no need for the 2 billion euro of cuts that were originally planned.
"The Budget, which we expected to require an adjustment of around €2.1 billion, because of the significant progress we've made, will be broadly neutral," the minister said today.
However, he warned that this would not mean a return to the giveaway budgets of olde.
"That means that if there's additional expenditure on any side, we have to find it by making savings elsewhere," he said.
"And similarly on the taxation side, if there's to be tax adjustments or tax reductions, they'll have to be met from within the tax budget."
The news was welcomed by Tánaiste Joan Burton, who said the leeway would be used to reward those who had suffered most.
"We can't do everything in one budget, so we want to do it in a way which builds and sustains the economic recovery," she said.
"But we also want to target it particularly at middle and low-income people.
"That's the agreement that I have with the Taoiseach, and that's very much our focus in approaching the Budget."
The news will also be welcomed by Leo Varadkar, the health minister, who has been looking to ensure that Health does not suffer any further cuts in the next Budget.
At the weekend he set out his stall - looking for his 2014 budget to be matched in 2015, including the expected €500 million 'supplementary' budget coming later this year.
Today he argued: "While it's possible to deliver the same level of activity ever year, on a slightly reduced budget, it's not really possible to increase activity and cut budgets at the same that.
"That's just proven to be impossible," he said.
