Elaine Byrne: Why can’t the new parties make the breakthrough?

What do we want? A new political party! When do we want it? Now! That’s been the refrain in Irish public life since the troika joined our government in 2010. It was assumed that the answer to the failure of establishment politics was the establishment of new political parties.

Political polls have consistently shown that almost a third of the electorate are prepared to vote for Independents or Others. Yet the formations of ...