Good Friday Agreement at 25: 'Today the deal is like a broken down car spluttering up the street and throwing out smoke' says founder of the DUP

He served as the party’s finance officer before embarking on a career in Northern Ireland’s civil service, then later returned as an advisor.

Now retired, the 70-year-old evangelical Christian was speaking to the News Letter of his memories of 1998 (when he was still in the civil service and out of party politics), and how he feels the deal has served Northern Ireland.

Tomorrow (April 10) is its official quarter-century anniversary.

"I was very sceptical about it at the time,” said Mr Thompson.

"I opposed it and voted against it, mainly – but not exclusively – on the grounds that early release of prisoners.

"I just thought the whole package was not good for Northern Ireland. But with the passage of 25 years and benefit of hindsight I can see it did deliver a measure of peace.”

Whilst this is something to be “thankful” for, he said the deal (which established the Northern Ireland Assembly as a body with two main blocs, unionist and nationalist) also “institutionalised a lot of the problems” which the Province faced.

As to what he makes of the fanfare around its 25th anniversary, he said: “It's been over-sold and over-hyped.

"There's so much press coverage of it. Many are saying they're weary of it, there's just so much.

"And in a way what's happening now with Biden and Clinton, that's what really irritated myself back in the days when it was being done.

"You were being sold a thing by slick salesmen, and the great and the good were coming together to create this feeling of optimism.

"You almost felt this is really quite an insult to people's intelligence, but it was being pushed, and pushed, and pushed.

"And 25 years on, yes, we've a similar kind of mindset of over-egging it, almost as a 'Holy Grail'.

"But it's not. It wasn't perfect, and it's not perfect, and it's not fully working. Stormont has stopped functioning so often. It has to be addressed.”

He likened it to having been sold a car by an impressive salesman, which then does not survive the test of time.

Today, he said, “it’s a brilliant car – until you start to drive it… it’s stuttering up the street, stopping, breaking down, smoke coming out the back of it”.

He added: “There's a bit of the Emperor’s new clothes about it. You just sort of can't admit that he's wearing no clothes.”

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