Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he will not be supporting any proposals for his party to end its partnership with the SDLP.
The Fianna Fáíl leader told Belfast Live the cross-border alliance with the SDLP is "strong" and "will continue".
The two parties announced the formal collaboration in 2019 but its status since then has been uncertain.
Read more: Video: SDLP's Claire Hanna evokes infamous Will Smith Oscars quote in clash with DUP
It emerged earlier this year that Fianna Fáil's youth wing had passed a motion at its conference calling for an end to the partnership.
The motion asked the president of Ógra Fianna Fáil to take the proposal to the party's ruling body.
It followed claims of tensions between the two parties' youth wings in the years since the partnership.
Mr Martin was asked about the current status of the alliance and whether he would back any possible efforts at a future Fianna Fáil ard fheis to end the collaboration.
The Taoiseach responded: "In relation to the SDLP, the relationship is strong and that relationship will continue.
"We will not be supporting any resolution at the ard fheis to in any way affect that or undermine that."
Mr Martin was speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg ahead of unveiling a sculpture honouring former SDLP leader John Hume.
The bronze bust of the Nobel laureate, a key architect of the Good Friday Agreement, marks his contribution during his 25 years as an MEP and the inspiration he took from the European project.
The Taoiseach said it was a privilege to unveil the artwork, adding: "I've been a long-time, all my life, an admirer of the work of John Hume.
"And of course his role as a European parliamentarian was so important in internationalising the issues in Northern Ireland.
"He did it in America and he did it here in Strasbourg and in Brussels, and he gave a powerful international voice for justice and for resolution, and for peace in Northern Ireland."
During the recent Stormont Assembly election campaign, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said voters had not asked about the party's partnership with Fianna Fáil.
The Foyle MP defended the collaboration, arguing that it played a role in the Irish government setting up the multi-million-euro Shared Island Unit to boost north-south cooperation.
He added: "That was work that was done as a result of conversations that Micheál Martin and I had together.
"That's the legacy of those conversations and we're very proud actually that over the next five years you're going to see real change on the ground, cross-border, in border communities, because of the work we did there."
Read more: Video: SDLP's Claire Hanna evokes infamous Will Smith Oscars quote in clash with DUP
Read more: John Hume sculptor on the "privilege" of creating bronze bust in his memory
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