Mr Pat Rabbitte has restated his commitment to seeking a pre-election pact with Fine Gael, but insisted that any alternative government must be driven by Labour values.
In his speech to the party's Kildare North selection convention last night, Mr Rabbitte said he would "confidently seek endorsement" for his electoral strategy from a Labour Party conference "at the appropriate time".
He also indicated that Labour and Fine Gael would agree a vote-transfer pact for the forthcoming Kildare North and Meath by-elections.
After senior party deputy Mr Brendan Howlin said at the weekend that he would prefer Labour to fight the next general election as an independent party, Mr Rabbitte said his view on this had been consistent.
"Peoplewant to know if at the next election they cast their vote for the Labour Party, are we likely to be in government and with whom.
"Other people will want to know if they cast their vote for Fianna Fáil, will they be putting Sinn Féin in government. These are reasonable questions that deserve straight answers. I have given straight answers," Mr Rabbitte said.
While some party activists have expressed annoyance that Mr Rabbitte announced his strategy without going through party structures first, the party leader said he was "completely satisfied that a substantial majority of Labour Party members do not want to be confronted with a proposal that Labour returns Fianna Fáil to government at this time".
This belief was based on meetings he had had with party members "up and down the country", he said.
He said that in the last election "Labour took the honourable stance of avoiding saying with whom we would form a partnership government in advance of the election, and by election day it had been mediated to the electorate as meaning there was no alternative available to the outgoing combination of parties".
It was for this reason he wanted Labour to be very clear about its intentions during the next election campaign.