The finance minister has opened the door to a potential coalition between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Michael Noonan is the most senior minister within Fine Gael to have openly discussed the prospect of the two parties entering talks.

Speaking in Brussels, he said he expected the talks FG is currently undertaking with smaller parties to lead it to the door of Fianna Fail in its bid to form a stable government.

There is resistance within Fine Gael to the idea of a minority government relying on Fianna Fail support from outside, as it would allow Fianna Fáil to determine the government's agenda without sharing the responsibility of power.

It's reported today that Enda Kenny could offer to begin talks with Fianna Fáil shortly after Thursday's Dail sitting, which is not expect to see a new Taoiseach appointed.

Kenny will not be able to conduct any negotiations next week as he is required to travel to Washington for St Patrick's Day, and then to Brussels for another EU summit on migration.

It's believed Kenny will make an offer to FF for talks before this travel, as otherwise he would concede valuable time to FF and its leader Micheal Martin in their bid to form a government instead.

The comments from Michael Noonan came as Sinn Fein confirms it will nominate Gerry Adams for the position of Taoiseach on Thursday.

The SF leader concedes that while his party does not have a sufficient mandate to lead a left-of-centre government, he will be nominated for the Taoiseach's role to display that there are "no no-go areas" for his party or for Republicans.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: