The multitudinous events of recent weeks tended to detract from proper attention to the tragic and untimely death of Hugh Coveney. That he should die in the sea which he so loved was particularly poignant, especially when he survived many dangers on the sea.

He was a kind and popular man. He did not need to be in public life and gave up more than most to undertake it. His very presence in the Dail was a mark of his generosity to others. The circumstances in which Hugh was asked to resign from the Cabinet by John Bruton came close to sheer injustice.

People with their own agendas leaked the fact that he made a casual and rather harmless remark in the course of a telephone conversation, and a penalty was exacted out of all proportion to what was either done or intended. When compared to other things done by office-holders in furtherance of their own interests Hugh's peccadillo seems trivial indeed.

He was in many ways too gentlemanly for the game and, unlike others, he did not have the neck to brazen it out. Not indeed that he wanted to. A tragic and unexpected death like Coveney's puts a lot of the huffing and puffing in perspective.

Scores of deputies made strenuous efforts over three or four weeks in the two recent by-elections, and in many respects it was all to no avail because due to Coveney's death we are now back where we started and the position of the Government is the same as it was on the day it was elected.

Having seen the small thanks their father got for his efforts in public life Drapier would be very surprised if any member of the Coveney family wanted to sacrifice another career. None of us here want even to contemplate another by-election, and Cork South Central seems unlikely to be held before autumn.

While it has been hard to think of anything but the North in recent days, the bank saga continues to deepen and to thicken. It is no longer confined to National Irish Bank. Some of the other institutions appear to be drawn into it. Even the building societies appear to be under scrutiny and suspicion.

No doubt there is feverish activity in bank head offices trying to work out where they stand and what a formal inquiry would reveal. A lament can be heard throughout the land for the old certainties.

Even the Christian Brothers have apologised for their wrong-doings and the ill-treatment of those in their care. Twenty years ago scarcely anybody would venture to suggest wrong-doing by them.

The Catholic bishops are in disarray. Various religious orders face potentially huge claims for damages they may have great difficulty in meeting. It may lead to their being wound up as insolvent. Bankers, lawyers and accountants are in disrepute and politicians are endlessly inquired into and scrutinised. No wonder people are disorientated, wondering where to turn.

Obviously the country is in a state of flux and a period of deep and rapid change where the advances in technology are matched by the abandonment of the old beliefs. Drapier was reminded of the changing times when reading John Cooney's interesting articles on the late archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Charles McQuaid, now dead 25 years. There was a man who seemed never to have doubts.

It was absorbing to read how the Taoiseach of the day, John A. Costello, on receiving a letter from McQuaid about Noel Browne and the Mother and Child Scheme composed a totally sycophantic reply and then drove to the Archbishop's Palace to show McQuaid the draft reply and inquire if he approved of it. McQuaid was, in effect, allowed to write on behalf of the government its reply to his own letter of admonition.

Many older people may feel anxious about change, but surely the fact that we have put that sort of nonsense behind us is a change for the better.

It is hard to imagine Bertie Ahern dropping in on his neighbour Desmond Connell in Drumcondra seeking episcopal approval for a Government White Paper on marriage and divorce.

It has been a long and tough week at Stormont but a hugely important one. It is certainly the best opportunity in more than 75 years to get things right. Whether the new agreement will work and can be fully effective remains to be seen, but at least the most strenuous efforts have been made and substantial credit is due to several quarters for those efforts.

The fact that Senator George Mitchell and his two colleagues from Canada and Finland have stuck with it for so long was hugely encouraging. It was a very considerable sacrifice by those three men. They could scarcely have done more for the future of this island and the welfare of its people.

The subtleties of the situation are so complex that very few foreigners who do not have an Irish background or lengthy contact with Ireland can understand them. But Mitchell, de Chastelain and Holkeri seem to have grasped both and have made an enormous contribution towards peace.

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern have put their own reputations on the line. The week was a tragic one for Bertie with the death of his mother and with her funeral taking place right in the middle of the talks.

The fact that Blair left London for Northern Ireland for several days in an all-out effort to achieve the settlement is something not every British prime minister would do. The North may be important to us because so much of our future is bound up with it, but it is somewhat peripheral to the British and not normally top of their political agenda.