The Stormont press conference the first and deputy first ministers held last Thursday was a non-event.

That very fact is a dispiriting indicator that the Executive will proceed exactly as before – if you can use the verb ‘proceed’, which implies action.

There was much talk afterwards about Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly agreeing, but they couldn’t agree to do anything.

Words like bland, vanilla, beige or unspecific hardly do justice to the waffle in response to powder-puff questions from assembled hacks.

Brian Feeney: Why won’t unionists confront the truth about hate attacks in their communities?

David McCann: Stormont has just three months to show it can deliver

They agreed to condemn violence against women and girls but have no detailed action to present.

They agreed to condemn racist violence and intimidation but, you’ve guessed it, had no proposals to end it: just “multi-agency” claptrap.

They agreed that the ecological catastrophe they’ve made of Lough Neagh has to be dealt with, yet both their parties have opposed the only proposals on the table to deal with it and they will continue to do so.

The trouble with press conferences is journalists usually get to ask one question on a topic. They are ideal formats for avoiding any issue.

The pressing news item was the racist and sectarian violence of the summer,

© The Irish News