Minister for Health Mary Harney said today she "loves" her job and would be eager to continue in her role for the duration of this Dáil, even if there were a Cabinet reshuffle.
"I love the job, I love the challenge, I'm totally focused on continuing to reform the health service," she told the Today with Pat Kenny programme on RTÉ Radio
She added that she hadn't made a decision yet on what to do in 2012, when the next general election has to be held.
"I have not said that ... I have never said that," she responded, when asked if this was her last spell in the Dáil. "I'm a lot younger than some people when they're first elected to the Dáil. I'm 55 years of age so I think I've a couple of more years to go," she added.
In October 2007, when asked about her future, Ms Harney also said she hadn't made up her mind whether or not to run in the next election. She said back then: "The next election is five years away and I'm certainly not going to make any decisions now that I might regret".
Meanwhile, she confirmed her plan to introduce a system of reference pricing for drug purchases - to bring down the cost of medicines further - would go ahead in 2011. Legislation providing for the new system was approved by the Government on Tuesday.
Under the new system, the State will set the price it’s prepared to pay for drugs reimbursed under the medical card and other State schemes. Patients who want more expensive branded drugs will have to pay the balance themselves.
A similar system had delivered substantial savings in Finland, she said.
Asked if Irish people were being ripped off before the manufacturers of nearly 300 off-patent branded drugs reduced their prices by 40 per cent this week, she said: "Well there's no doubt we weren't getting value".
Ms Harney added that Ireland is so small it doesn't have the "pricing clout of bigger countries". But she said she would love to see the EU as a whole negotiating with the pharmaceutical sector, which would deliver greater savings. "But that's a situation that is a long way off ... first of all the companies wouldn't allow it, I don't think," she said.