The conditions now exist for the Labour Party to return to government at the next general election, the party leader Pat Rabbitte has said.
Speaking this evening at the annual general meeting of the party's Dublin South-East constituency, Mr Rabbitte reaffirmed Labour as a "party of the left - of modern social democracy".
"My task from now until the next general election is to continue to build our party, and to build the alternative government. Everywhere I go, I hear of discontentment with Fianna Fáil and the PDs, and of a desire on the part of the people for a change of Government. We can take nothing for granted, but the conditions do exist for us to succeed in returning Labour to Government after the next election," Mr Rabbitte said.
He said Labour would build a more equal society, rebuilding the welfare system, tackling problems in housing and health, and ensuring free pre-school education and better resourcing of primary schools.
"In broad terms, I see us replacing a centre-right Government, with a centre-left Government. As this party knows to its cost, terms such as left and right do not always resonate in Irish politics, bound up as it has been in the civil-war divide," he said.
Criticising the Taoiseach for his statement on a television programme that he can "go either left or right", Mr Rabbitte said Labour's values were "unchanging".
"The principles set out in our party constitution of freedom, equality, community and democracy, are constant. What changes is the means by which we seek to give effect to those values, in the face of a changing world," he said.
"One of the strengths of this party is that we do change. We have, over time, adapted and amended our policies to suit the times."
This had been done with debate, but with "little fuss", he said.
"And while this has been a continuous organic process, there nonetheless remains a coherent philosophy underlying what we are about."
The Labour leader said his party was the "authentic Irish voice" of the great tradition of European social democracy. Since becoming leader, he said he had described his own approach to politics as a belief in "The Fair Society", in which everyone should be able to develop their potential to the full.
"We must provide a floor of social protection which lifts people out of poverty, but we must build trampolines, as well as safety nets," he said.
Mr Rabbitte also said the party must "defend and enhance the public realm".
"Here we face the threats of the degradation of the public domain, the corruption of public institutions, and the excessive encroachment of the language and ethics of the market into the public domain.
"Labour is a party of the left - of modern social democracy. It is those ideas and values that I want to see imprinted on the policies and doings of the next government."