Rubble and razor wire enclose the remains of Crumlin Road Courthouse, North Belfast.

Lady Justice, her scales (in)famously absent, presides over the charred husk of what was once the venue for hundreds of paramilitary trials during The Troubles.

This landmark, closed in 1998 following the Good Friday Agreement and gutted by fire in 2009 after years of neglect, is a symbolic warning we would do well to heed.

Strong, respected and trustworthy institutions are needed for a fair, peaceful and productive society. These don’t emerge overnight, and require careful tending if they are to be maintained and flourish. Exposed to attack and without diligent stewardship, their effectiveness and legitimacy can be damaged beyond repair.

Have both politicians and the public taken the institutions with which we are familiar — the Welfare State, Stormont, Westminster — for granted?

Is our society reaping the reward of generations of attacking institutions for short term point-scoring, rather than providing constructive criticism in order to reshape them?

With Stormont now devoid of any sitting representatives for over 6 months, it remains to be seen what long term damage will be done by leaving ‘the house on the hill’ empty and ‘exposed to the elements’ for such a prolonged and crucial period.