It was not like other political crises we have known. In the past during the various heaves, the ditching of Brian Lenihan, the toppling of Charles Haughey, the resignation of Michael Lowry, the action was in the House itself, the actors in the drama were our own and all of us in our own way were bit players. On those occasions the House heaved and seethed with excitement and apprehension, fear, loathing and expectation.
This week was very different. The action was elsewhere. No one knew who precisely the main actors would be. We were as dependent as everybody else on rumour and media. There was no inside track, no one to confirm or deny from any position of authority. There was an air of the surreal about it all, certainly a sense that nobody was in control.
In one sense that has been part of the overall problem. The rumours about Dublin County Council have been around now for a long time. Garret FitzGerald in his time called in his councillors to ask questions. But he was the first and not the last to find that allegations and rumours do not amount to evidence.
Since then other politicians, but most notably the media and most especially Frank McDonald, have continued to ask questions. The problem again was the absence of evidence, and in this litigious age it would be a brave man or woman who would make or bring hard charges without a lockerful of evidence. Until Frank Dunlop, that evidence was not there - and remember Frank Dunlop has yet to face cross-examination.
So, in the past, when allegations were made, should the party leaders have expelled people on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations? Would Frank Dunlop or Owen O'Callaghan have answered a request from any of the party leaders to tell whether or not they had bribed or sought to bribe party councillors?
The answer is obvious. The very question itself would have been treated as a slander, an outrageous slur on the character of those asked. And the masters of spin would be quick into action denigrating those asking the questions. And let us not forget that while certain journalists have played a heroic role in this whole process the masters of spin have not been without their media friends either, especially when it came to laying false trails or generating diversionary tactics, the last and least successful being the Tom Hand/John Bruton misadventure of last weekend.
All that said, no sane politician can underestimate the seismic nature of what happened this week. Put into context, it happened in local government, not national government. So far no national figures have been involved, though that may change. But the impact on the public is immense. Frank Dunlop will find himself taking his place in that pantheon of political folklore - Lockes Distillery, the Mother and Child affair, the Arms Trial and so on - an episode or a name that conjures up a keynote episode in our history.
Drapier is certainly not going to kick Frank Dunlop when he is down. Frank rose high, was always in a hurry, had his share of personal tragedies and was genuinely liked by most of those who know him.
But he long ago lost the run of himself. His bravura and brazen performance during earlier planning episodes should have rung warning bells, not just in Fianna Fail where he remained a valued adviser, but in RTE which continued to use him as a prime presenter.
Now he is paying a huge price. His confidence, self-respect and business are shattered. Like Ray Burke he faces an empty future, all gone in one giant fall.
One immediate consequence of all this is that the Government should stop its prevarication about a proper Register of Lobbyists Bill. Why Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats did not accept the principle of the Labour Bill Drapier cannot understand. Now there should be no reason to hold back. Secondly, we as politicians owe it to the media and to the public to take a hard look at the laws of libel and defamation.
There now needs to be dialogue. This is not as easily done as said, especially given that by their nature the media are diffuse, lack natural leadership and often have competing agendas. Add to that the paranoid way most of us regard the media and it is easy to see why there has been no real meeting of minds.
But the question to be asked now is whether different libel laws would have made it easier to unmask the corruption on Dublin County Council and bring matters to a head and, if so, the type of changes needed and whether such changes are constitutionally possible.
It is a job tailor-made for Michael McDowell. He is a journalist manque, understands and likes journalists and has the intellectual capacity to do the job quickly. He should be given the task.
The third of many other problems which gain urgency from this episode is party funding. Sean Fleming got a rough response from his own party when he argued for a ban on outside funding. Drapier thinks he is right. Drapier feels there is something demeaning about politicians and parties having to solicit funds from companies and individuals.
The reality, however, is that without such funds parties would not survive. All party leaders have seen their parties on the verge of bankruptcy and have had to take action. And we have all seen how fund-raising can spill over into personal corruption.
There is another way. Political parties are an essential part of democracy, and Drapier does not have to hammer that point home with a civics lecture. Without parties parliamentary democracy could not function. We should recognise that basic fact by writing the role of parties into the Constitution, regulate their role by law and fund them from State resources so that the source and spending of all funding is open, traceable and accountable from start to finish.
Sean Fleming was well placed to see the need for such a reform. He is not the only one, and Drapier's advice to his colleagues this Easter weekend is to think deep and think radically on this issue. If adopted it could be a liberating measure for all concerned, giving us the time to get on with the real business of politics, including more time for policy and less need to be deferential to established interests.
For the moment, however, we are where we are. In the coming weeks we will learn much more; names will be tarnished, reputations will suffer, careers will be lost. But in the midst of it all is the other fact - that the vast majority of politicians and officials are honest, that all of us are the losers by association and it is up to us to ensure that lessons are learned and acted upon.