The Tánaiste and Labour Party leader says the coalition will increase the minimum wage if the Low Pay Commission recommends it.

In her keynote speech at the party's national conference in Kerry tonight, Joan Burton says there is a decade of opportunity ahead for Irish people.

She has also dubbed those who hijack peaceful protests as bullies.

Joan Burton told members the party is fighting for a shared recovery for all and that a decade of opportunity lays ahead.

But she says there are progress deniers out there and nothing will stop her leading the drive to rescue the country.

"Some of them hijack peaceful protests to make their point," she says. "In a free society, that's bullying. The Labour Party has a long, long history of standing up to bullies.

"And I'll tell you something else: Labour women are not easily intimidated," she adds.

The Tánaiste says fair wages and decent working conditions are essential, workers are entitled to a living wage and an increase in the minimum wage could be on the cards.

She promised that by the end of the year the coalition will set out how to introduce two weeks paid paternity leave.

On same-sex marriage she recalled a recent meeting with a woman who brought up the issue:

The Tánaiste says by the next election the people will have a choice to re-elect the current Government or a coalition of chaos of independents who can't govern themselves, the hard left opposed to governing or Opposition parties who will not work together.

On the subject of the bank guarantee, she told her party colleagues that "Labour opposed the bank guarantee, because we knew how disastrous it would be. And boy, was it disastrous."