Green Party leader Trevor Sargent has said that he would prefer to see Fianna Fáil in opposition following the general election but that the party had not ruled out coalition with any party.
Speaking after the party's parliamentary conference in Macreddin Village, Co Wicklow, Mr Sargent also suggested that the Greens could not sit in coalition with Fianna Fáil if Martin Cullen, Frank Fahey or Dick Roche were ministers.
However, he also criticised Labour and Fine Gael for being no different to the Government in relation to key priority policies for the Green Party on energy, the environment and planning.
The party has also said that it would not be publishing any of its key demands for coalition and reiterated its desire to form part of the next government.
"Ireland needs the Green Party in government," Mr Sargent said. "Our policies are what we are putting to the people and after that the outcome of the election will put us in a position to have those policies implemented. I actually don't see a huge difference between the current bloc that's in and the bloc that is wanting to be in at the moment.
"Both believe in hyper-expansionist policies. Both don't recognise that we're living on a finite planet. And there would need to be considerable leverage from the Green Party to bring about the change of culture that would make it possible to deliver the quality of life and sustainable future that the country needs."
He said the party was "not in the business of putting one or other person into the office of Taoiseach. We're into implementing Green Party policies and that's the bottom line."
Meanwhile, the party has also said it is formulating a series of policies, which like other parties, it will be publishing before the general election campaign begins.
Green Party chairman John Gormley said the Hamilton committee, named after party former general secretary Dermot Hamilton, who died last year, was also working "on a specific list of deliverables".
"Some of these will be published in terms of policies, but we are keeping a lot of our powder dry in terms of negotiations. We're not going to conduct negotiations here. It would be very unwise to do so."
Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle said all of its policy proposals would be independently costed and costed through the Department of Finance, which provides a costing service to all political parties.
However, Mr Sargent rejected suggestions the party did not have any policies separate to those on the environment and planning. Key areas for the party were increasing the preventive healthcare budget and a targeted coherent policy on children addressing both education and care. A major increase in the public transport investment was also a key policy for the party.
Mr Sargent said the party was also preparing a file on Minister for State for Justice Frank Fahey over the Lost at Sea boat compensation scheme and other issues, which would be submitted to the Standards in Public Offices Commission.
Asked whether he would be willing to sit on the same bench as Mr Fahey in coalition in the Dáil, Mr Sargent replied "no".
He went on to suggest that the Green Party could not work with a number of sitting junior and senior Ministers.
He said: "I don't think Fianna Fáil would be serious about government if they had Frank Fahey, or indeed Martin Cullen. . . or indeed Dick Roche, who seems to think that climate change is more about press releases than taking action.
"There are a number of Ministers who would have to say goodbye before we had any effective government."