COMMENT: Unlikely pair form alliance to tap into anger at political establishment

As political bedfellows go, few make a more unlikely pair than turfcutters’ champion Michael Fitzmaurice and bombastic city-slicker Shane Ross.

And yet as the kaleidoscope of Irish politics is shaken once more into flux, the duo have formed an intriguing rural-urban alliance intended to tap into the mood of national despair and disillusionment with established parties.

Ballot papers look set to groan under the weight of all the new groupings that are emerging to do battle at the next election.