The Green Party will discuss the possibility of entering government when it convenes in Cork for its annual conference this evening.
Speaking ahead of the conference, party leader Trevor Sargent said Green Party involvement in Government would be good for business and would bring competitive advantage to the economy by setting a "new agenda".
Citing climate change and the recent upsurge in oil prices, Mr Sargent said there was a need for transition to a "clean green energy economy" and insisted it was time for Green politics "to take a hold of the decision making process".
The Green Party leader said the current Government seemed incapable of effecting such change.
"The reality is that, if we are to achieve real change, then the time has come for Green politics to take a hold of the decision making process. If we want to build a clean green energy economy we need to start investing in completely different energy, transport, building and farming systems and we need to do it now," he said.
Party delegates will gather at the Silver Springs Hotel this evening for the first instalment of the party's three-day annual conference and will debate motions calling on the party to fight the next election independent of alliances with other parties.
Since the Green Party last met in conference, the party has lost both MEPs and has allowed the Green Party in Northern Ireland become a region of an all-island Green Party.
