INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE Shane Ross yesterday said he was not part of any group that aims to support Fine Gael in the next Dáil.
Mr Ross, who is running in Dublin South as an Independent candidate, has spoken to a “large number of Independents” with a view to forming a “common policy” when elected.
Contrary to a report in yesterday’s paper, Mr Ross said he had no intention of forming part of a Fine Gael-led government.
Mr Ross said he had no sympathies towards any particular party, and had not held discussions about forming a government. He hoped to be among a grouping of Independents that would be “large and influential” in the Dáil.
“We hope it will be able to force whatever government is elected to end Civil War politics,” he said.
While the grouping would have common policies, they would not agree on everything, he said.
Such common policies would be to “outlaw cronyism”, “radically root out abuses in the Oireachtas” and ensure “dramatic reform of the Dáil and the Seanad”, he said.
The Independents, he added, would prioritise “cleaning out the semi-States” and ensuring that the banks were “never again allowed to hold the government and other powerful forces in this country to ransom”.