Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says his party will return with “real success” when voters return to the polls.

It comes after the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll put the Greens on just 2% support.

That would likely see the party falling from the 12 seats it currently enjoys in the Dáil to just one in the next Government.

Speaking ahead of this morning’s Cabinet meeting at Avondale house in Wicklow, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he expects things to change by the time of the next election.

“I’m confident we will return with real success.”

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says his party is focused on improving people’s quality of life, adding ‘people will vote for that in the end’. pic.twitter.com/9ezqG2RHYR

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) September 6, 2023

“We’ll go out to the electorate - next June first of all, the local and European elections; we have really good candidates in both Europe and the local elections - and make our case,” he said.

“I’m confident we will return with real success but if we focus on that just immediately rather than on the delivery, I don’t think we would be doing our job.

“I think our job now, in the next six months, particularly, the next nine months, is focusing on delivering improvements for people’s quality of lives and I think people will vote for that in the end.”

Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin on his way into Government Buildings, 16-05-2023. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

The Sunday Times poll found that Sinn Féin remains the most popular party in the country – but suggests the party will not get enough seats to form a government on its own.

It predicts that the only ‘viable’ Government will be a coalition between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin – with Mary Lou McDonald’s party taking 67 seats and Micheál Martin’s taking 35.

Minister Martin has recently played down any suggestion his party could work with Sinn Féin – insisting the two parties’ policies are ‘incompatible’.

He told Newstalk that Sinn Féin’s attempts to not just justify, but to celebrate” the actions of the IRA during the Troubles are ‘reprehensible’ – and said the party would have to face up to that before long.

Reporting from Sean Defoe at Avondale House.