The Green Party say they are planning to take back some Dáil seats in the next general election.

The party is holding a conference in Kilkenny this weekend, on the party's future policies.

The Green Party leader addressed the event this evening, saying that the country needs visionary politics which can manage health, education and social services in a creative way.

The party lost all of their Dáil seats following a disastrous General Election in 2011.

But Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says he would not rule out being a junior coalition party, if they won seats in after the next election:

In his speech to party members earlier, Mr Ryan said, "for the last four years we have run our party as a voluntary organisation. We know we can do it. But to deserve a vote from the electorate we are going to have to do a lot of hard work. We need to build up our volunteer force and that is what I am calling for here today."

He also told those in attendance that "trust in the state is broken. In the provision of water, energy and health services, people increasingly doubt the motives of officials and whose side the state is on.

"We need to be centered in a wider understanding of what is happening in our world. Centred between an adherence to scientific principles in the establishment of good policy, and the need for an artistic understanding of what we want to be," Mr Ryan added.