Eoghan Murphy wants to remain as Housing Minister 'as long as' possible

"There is no General Election on the horizon, we have the uncertainty around Brexit which we continue to face, we also have the belief and the desire of an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to not have an election at least before the summer of 2020."

He described Sinn Féin as "undemocratic" and said his party "couldn't work with that".

"We will be going into the next election to win the next election to get as many seats as we can," he told reporters at the party's national conference in Wexford this morning.

Asked about the fact that the number of homeless children has gone from around 600 to 3,600 since Fine Gael came into power, he said: "I know people are concerned about the number of families that are now in emergency accommodation but that's why we have put such a focus into new supports to get families into the right type of emergency accommodation until we can get the homes built."

He added that more social houses are being built and are starting to come on stream.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty said she would never go into Government with Sinn Féin.

"There are some very fine politicians in Sinn Féin as there are in every single party and that's why collectively we get on so well in Oireachtas Committees and actually can do some real substantive work together.

Would I personally ever go into Government with Sinn Féin? Not on your nelly.

"When we look at formation of Government we have a very stable Government for the last number of years I think people wouldn't have expected it to have lasted or have achieved as much," Ms Doherty said.

She said Fine Gael have had a "very strong relationship" with Fianna Fáil but added that she "doesn't get to make the decision" as to whether her party would enter Government with them.