North needs an election to purge system on the brink of breakdown

GREAT news. Green shoots, at last. One of the key drivers of the Irish economy has officially emerged from recession. Yes, the Cassandras are back in business. What with bombs here and shootings there, the Troubles junkies can hardly believe their luck.

At last, those with an insight into the 57 varieties of dissident scum are receiving the attention they deserve on the evening news. Ireland unfree can never be at peace, didn’t you know? Their agendas might be unsubtle, but we live in a free market economy: the siren voices are only being heard again because the North really is in the grip of a political and security crisis. British counter-terrorism resources are quietly being diverted from the fight against Islamism back to Irish duties.

Thankfully, history does not repeat itself, even if it rhymes. The North was supposed to be pointing in the right direction under Terence O’Neill and then the Provos rose up from the ashes of Bombay Street.