New Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said that "people’s trust with the Labour Party has been broken" as she insisted that her party’s future "does not include a merger".
The Cork South-West TD, 33, is now the youngest opposition leader in the Dáil after becoming leader at noon today.
During her first press conference as leader, Ms Cairns was asked if her party would merge with Labour. Former leader Róisín Shortall set up the Social Democrats after she left the Labour Party along with Catherine Murphy and Stephen Donnelly.
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The party’s new leader said that the answer to a merger was a "categoric no".
Ms Cairns said: "I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you, I wouldn’t be a TD, if Catherine and Róisín hadn’t set up the Social Democrats. What I'm talking about here is in terms of trying to earn people's trust.
"I think that trust has been broken between people and the Labour Party.
"We're unashamedly ambitious about the future of the Social Democrats. That future doesn’t include a merger with any other party."
Ms Cairns was asked what was the difference between her party and Labour and she said that she "understands that there are lots of similarities between the two parties and their policies."
However, she pointed to the fact that Labour votes in favour of greyhound funding while the Social Democrats do not.
She continued: "It just feeds into that thing that we want a new style of politics, not the old jobs for the boys, not the cosy connections."
When asked if she would rule out going into Government with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, Ms Cairns said that she would not rule anyone in or out, but that Social Democrats would not go into Government just to "make up numbers".
A spokeswoman for the Labour Party told the Irish Mirror: "Among the many differences between us and the Social Democrats is that the Labour Party was founded by James Connolly. The Social Democrats were founded by Stephen Donnelly."
As she addressed her party colleagues in Dublin, Ms Cairns acknowledged that there was some shock about her quick ascent to party leader.
She said that when she first ran for election, she was "written off" but is now being described as an "outlier".
"I may not fit the stereotype of a politician, but that is not a bad thing," she said.
"Let’s not forget that some of the most experienced politicians in the Dáil bankrupted the country a little over a decade ago.
"Some of them, by the way, are still in power today."
Ms Cairns said that she could "feel" that Irish politics was "on the cusp of change" as she encouraged people to join and vote for the Social Democrats.
Following her first Leaders Questions’ slot on Wednesday afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar congratulated her on her appointment but warned her about the difficulty of becoming a party leader as "one leader to another".
He said: "It is a tough job and much of the work goes unrecognised. Whether it's fundraising, dealing with party accounts, disputes between public reps, internal rows, staff matters, it is all before you. It is a very tough job. I wish you a fair wind."
He also paid tribute to former leaders Ms Shortall and Ms Murphy on the success of building up a new party.
Mr Varadkar added: "Of course most new parties don't survive their second leader but hopefully that won't be the case with the Social Democrats."
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