Suzanne Harrington: 'Did Ireland and England swap shirts?'

Continue their public nervous breakdown, as we watch between the slits of our fingers, wincing. And trying not to laugh too loud.

Chatting in Cork this week with someone just moved back after decades overseas, and another on an extended visit after an even longer time abroad, the first words they use to describe the New Ireland are avaricious and litigious.

Which sounds like twin characters from a particularly gruesome pantomime — imagine the Ugly Sisters in gold plated four wheel drives waving writs out the window.