Labour is aiming to double its representation at the next general election, party leader Brendan Howlin has said.

Mr Howlin told reporters at the party’s think-in that he has set a series of targets ahead of the next election.

The first, he said, would be to double its membership from 4,000 to 8,000.

Mr Howlin added: “I want them to be inclusive members involved in policy formation. In terms of the number of councillors we have 50 councillors and I think we can have a target in the next local election of 100 council seats.

“In terms of TDs we were unlucky in the last election. Even in the dismal election that we had that we did not get more seats from the vote that we actually got.

“A number of colleagues were very close.. I think we can double our number of TDs and probably a lot more.”

Labour has seven elected TDs and five Senators. They gathered for their annual think-in in the Mansion House in Dublin for the past two days.

Mr Howlin said the aim was to rebuild the party after a disastrous election result.

He said the party has been written off many times before but has always bounced back.