Eureka! Twenty-six years after the Good Friday Agreement, Stormont’s main parties have made an amazing discovery.

They have realised that the agreement totally ignored social and economic issues, a point which this column (the only one in Ireland, I think) has been labouring for some time.

The agreement elevated sectarian politics above the everyday needs of ordinary people. The main parties put their own selfish interests before the welfare of those who elected them. Just as de Valera said Labour must wait (meaning workers were less important than flags), the GFA decided that politics were more important than people.

So, institutionalised sectarianism smothered our public services, leaving 700,000 on NHS waiting lists, 104,000 children in poverty and widespread deprivation, homelessness and hunger.

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Now the parties want to return to work, even though their “work” crippled the welfare state, which was still largely intact in 1998. Having sat at home for five of the past seven years, they say Stormont needs money, a point they ignored 26 years ago.

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