Labour's controversial poster has echoes of similar backfiring political moves around the world

The mysterious leaking of Labour's controversial draft election poster depicting a Fianna Fáil-Sinn Féin coalition as a just-married gay couple shows the fine line between landing a sneaky pre-vote punch and having it hit the thrower square in the face, writes political reporter Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

The Dáil has yet to be dissolved, politicians are still officially in the middle of their three week winter hibernation and we don't even have an election date, but make no mistake - the battle for who will form the next government is in full swing.

On Sunday, the latest sign of the pre-fight shadow-boxing danced Ali-style into view when a mysteriously leaked draft Labour party election poster took aim at the opposition.