DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's finance minister Michael Noonan said on Friday he would like to remain in his position if the country's governing coalition returns to power at elections due in the next six months.
Noonan, one of the longest-serving members of the Eurogroup of finance ministers and the oldest member of Ireland's cabinet at 72, had hinted previously that he would like a second term.
"Despite all the progress that has been made, there is an element of a job not finished yet and I would like to follow the same policies," Noonan told national broadcaster RTE.
"If we are back in government and the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) wants me to serve in cabinet, certainly finance will be the ministry I will be interested in."
Noonan guided Ireland through an international bailout and has pledged never to return to the "boom and bust" cycle that the country has ridden in recent decades with the economy now growing faster than any other in Europe.
He has also mapped out a plan to start selling shares in the country's second-largest lender, the 99 percent state-owned Allied Irish Banks, should the government be re-elected.
A poll on Sunday showed that support for Ireland's Fine Gael/Labour coalition has returned to the highest level seen in over a year, leaving the parties around 11 seats shy of the 80 needed to secure a parliamentary majority.