After the weeks of tribunals with one revelation and allegation following another, Leinster House has had an unearthly quietness about it for most of this week. The place is more like a building site by the day, and Drapier has little confidence the building work will be over as promised by early October. When did any builder ever finish on time?
Some cynics were suggesting that if the building work was not completed on time we might not be back until December. In the fevered days of late June it was all seen as yet another deep-laid Bertie plot to prevent a daily grilling at the hands of the Opposition especially if, as will be the case, Moriarty and Flood will be running in tandem from late September.
Not so, Drapier can reassure his readers. However finished or unfinished the buildings are, the Dail will resume in early October. But to the Government's relief that is still eight weeks off.
As things stand our summer recess is unconscionably long. Far too long, and the only people it suits this way are the Taoiseach and the ministers of the day. Even the newspapers drop a few gears at this time of the year, leaving it to the ministers and their spin doctors to set the agenda, maximise every bit of good news and dodge the hard questions on any awkward topic which may surface.
Drapier was browsing through old Dail debates the other day. He does this from time to time just to reassure himself that things don't change all that much in here. On this occasion he went back to the very early days - before the State itself came into existence.
He dipped into the debate on our first Constitution and found what he was looking for. The TDs of that day were worried about the lack of answerability of government during the long summer recess. Their solution was that there should be what they called a "Committee of Public Safety" which would sit through the recess and to which the administration would be accountable.
Apart from the unfortunate name, the idea had little to commend it to the then government, and it never got off the ground. Drapier thought he would mention it this bank holiday weekend - just to make the point that the more things change the more they remain the same.
Still, it's a thought. Imagine some member of the Government, Michael Woods perhaps, having to report on a weekly basis to a committee made up of Pat Rabbitte, Joe Higgins, Marian McGennis, Michael Noonan, Shane Ross and Dick Roche. It would certainly make for good entertainment, whatever about keeping the Government on its toes.
In fact, in recent years we've become used to August behaving out of character and turning up with real stories - last year for example we had the holiday embarrassments of Mary and Charlie, which even last week were raising the ire of Ned O'Keeffe. This year, Drapier believes everybody will be that bit more careful.
On the level of irritation, Drapier was one of the many thousands caught up in Monday's traffic chaos in the streets surrounding the Dail. Dublin's traffic is bad enough without some cack-handed decision by the corporation to shut down one of the busiest streets in the capital to make it easier for some private developer to build his hotel. Maybe it's time some of these officials had to face election.
And as for Thursday morning's lightning and illegal picket by Brendan Ogle's freelancers, Mary O'Rourke, where are you when we need you? And remember Dublin's inconvenience is only a fraction of what the rest of us in the State have to put up with - especially those in tourist spots.
Not that there are not some big stories around. Sinn Fein has upped the ante considerably on the fate of the killers of Jerry McCabe. It's a story that won't go away, and it's one on which feelings run very deep indeed.
The truth of the matter is that partition has worked. Most people in here, of all parties, see the North as different - almost a foreign country, and yes, we do apply double standards.
People down here have watched with bemusement and distaste as the Maze opened its doors and released its prisoners. Some of the prisoners coming out may be idealists; some are victims of circumstance and some are dangerous psycho paths. We have empathised and sympathised with the families of the victims. We know what it must mean for these people, but then we shrug our shoulders and talk about the integrity of the peace process.
BUT when the action moves down here we react very differently. Jerry McCabe was not just a decent, good man - which he manifestly was - but he was one of our own. Any hint that his killers might be freed would lead to huge public outrage, antagonise the entire Garda force and split the PDs from the Government.
No sane government would even contemplate such a line of action. Bertie Ahern knows that, as does John O'Donoghue and Mary Harney. Indeed so does Gerry Adams, but he has his own pressures, and they will not go away either. It is an issue on which his hardliners feel very strongly, and with the "Real IRA" in the business of attracting new members, he cannot afford to relent.
It has the makings of a genuine crisis, but Drapier is cynical enough to believe the Government will be happy to see the issue referred to the courts, and to hope the courts will then direct the Government to free these men. In that way the Government can both wring and wash its hands at the same time, claiming it has no option but to obey the courts.
On the other hand, if the courts say it is a matter solely for the Government, then we will have a real crisis on our hands.
We have also had Ned O'Keeffe's "state of the nation" interview with the Irish Examiner. Ned likes a bit of mischief, and he used the occasion to stir things up. Nonetheless he struck a chord with genuine Fianna Fail supporters - the people who stayed away in Tipp South or who only voted with great reluctance.
Ned may have been an enthusiastic Haughey man in his day, indeed there were times when he was more than enthusiastic, but he knows that day is well and truly gone and that the only way to break free is through radical action, rather than through the cosmetic changes favoured by his present leader.
Ned is by nature independent and outspoken. He has more ability than many of his Cabinet colleagues and he was one of those who did not support Bertie in the leadership contest. He was a strong Mary O'Rourke supporter - and still is.
Ned knows what he is saying and he knows that his colleagues, especially in the party's heartland, are getting the same message - cut the ties with the fat cats, enough corporate box stuff, and back to basics, whatever they may be.