Labour Minister of State Aodhán O'Ríordán is adamant his party is not going to be wiped out in the next general election.
An opinion poll shows the party has so far failed to win any brownie points with the public, despite its major input into the budget.
It's still floundering on a lowly 7% in the satisfaction ratings - unchanged since the last such poll in July.
Fine Gael's star, in contrast, is on the rise - today's Millward Brown survey for the Sunday Independent shows they have gained five points, bringing their support to 29%.
However Minister Aodhán O'Ríordán says he is very confident Labour's record in government will ensure they are not defeated at the polls.
Speaking to Colette Fitzpatrick, the Minister of State for New Communities, Culture and Equality said "anybody who knows the level of support the Labour party has... they know that's not going to happen.
"I know in the final analysis we'll be able to say to people 'look, you mightn't have liked all that we have done, but look at the state of the country now, and look at the contribution of the Labour party'. Labour, when in government, has always made things better. No other party can say that," he added.
Deputy O'Ríordán addressed a number of other issues during the interview on The Colette Fitzpatrick Show, including potential vote transfer pacts, the decriminalisation of drug use and the housing crisis.
On the subject of injection rooms for drug users, Deputy O'Ríordán said "let's examine exactly what is happening in Dublin city centre at the moment. We have very vulnerable drug users who are injecting themselves in the open air.
"It's very unsafe for the drug user, it's extremely unsightly for the citizen. It makes people nervous... It's not good for retailers, it's not good for business, it's not good for tourism... Nobody is benefiting from this",
He acknowledged we have to analyse the reasons why people turn to drugs and aim to radically reduce the number of users in Irish society, but suggested in the meantime "it would make an awful lot more sense for us to have a centre where this practice can happen in a much safer way as a road to recovery".
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