We had a surfeit of news all week with very little actually coming to any great conclusion. Yet each bit of news was in its own way significant and important for things to come.
Let's start with Jim Mitchell. Drapier has long seen Jim as one of the most inventive of our parliamentarians. Jim takes himself seriously and the Dail seriously. He was one of the first to campaign for better conditions and services, but he has also been to the fore in trying to extend the powers of the Houses.
Our parliament has never been particularly assertive about its rights. Over the years, with Civil War politics and rigid party discipline, governments dominated Dail and Seanad. Backbenchers generally were seen but not heard and governments got on with the business of governing. The rest of us turned up to vote.
Much of this has changed in recent times. Minority governments, coalition governments, hungry new people, media attention and committees have all combined to loosen things up, but not that much.
At one level the growing power of the courts or of outside bodies set up by the Oireachtas has not been matched by any increased powers for ourselves. Some of the older hands feel we no longer have the bottle to take decisions but pass everything on to outside bodies to do the work for us.
Jim Mitchell may well be on the way to changing that, and the success or otherwise of his Public Accounts Committee investigation into DIRT will determine how the Dail does much of its future business.
It may be a coincidence but last weekend the lawyers had their own think-in about the future of tribunals. There is a lack of proportion about the length of time a tribunal takes, the costs and what it actually delivers. The costs are a scandal that no amount of barristerial sniggering can hide.
The whole process is so drawnout that by the time a conclusion is reached the circumstances which led to the setting up of the tribunal are well nigh forgotten. As Drapier has often remarked tribunals, once established, take on a life of their own and this has never been more marked than in the Flood tribunal. Where it will all end, if end it ever does, God only knows. Moriarty, now that's a different proposition.
Drapier was much taken by the view of the chairman of the Bar Council, Mr John McMenamin, on radio recently that the Oireachtas should look to itself to remedy some of the current deficiencies. He felt we have been far too reliant on the courts and too diffident or uninventive in looking into the potential given to us under our own powers and standing orders. Drapier believes he is right and Jim Mitchell's committee will be our first real test.
No one knows how it will all work out. The presence of high-powered lawyers defending the banks could frustrate any human activity, but one way or the other it is going to be interesting.
Certainly Jim Mitchell has put in the preliminary work. He has requisitioned virtually the entire committee facilities of the Houses for the month of September to the extent that some of the other committee chairmen feel they have been steamrolled.
Jim has also lined up legal and financial expertise to bolster the committee, so it promises to be a more equal battle than was thought likely at first.
In addition Jim has some political heavy hitters on his team. Pat Rabbitte needs no introduction. Sean Doherty may not be the flavour of Dublin 4 but he has a sharp mind and a good eye for the jugular. Bernard Durkan will not lack for persistence and will not easily be embarrassed.
Drapier fully realises the importance of September's work and he has one piece of advice for his colleagues. Avoid the route chosen by Kenneth Starr. Your job is to establish what happened, why it happened and who did it. It is important the committee is seen as calm and fair, doing its work in an open-minded, non-vindictive way.
Drapier does not underestimate the importance of Jim Mitchell's committee. If he succeeds we may well be on our way to a tribunal-free future with the Oireachtas doing much of its own investigative work at a fraction of the cost to the public. If it fails, then we might as well resign ourselves to a future of tribunals and fat legal fees.
The other big issues this week were, as ever, the tribunals and the North. Whatever about the content of Bertie Ahern's performance - or non-content as may be the case - the stage-managing of his appearance was near-perfect.
Not for Bertie the TV cameras and photographers, his arrival and departure were nearly as unobtrusive as what he said, while the rest of his day was a whirl of breathless activity.
As to the North, Drapier noted a change of attitude among some of the few colleagues he met in here this week. There was less hammering of David Trimble and a feeling that the media and some politicians - Marion McGennis was a case in point on Questions and Answers - had gone far over the top on this issue. The simple fact is that any politician who loses his party is dead and most people who think about it see Trimble as still the best hope of making progress.
There is also a sense that everyone involved in the process needs a break. The physical and emotional demands have been enormous, and Tony Blair in particular has been snapping of late. Visibly so. Another few weeks won't do any harm, but meanwhile the question arises as to whether Mo Mowlam will still be around when the process resumes in September.
Drapier does not understand this British fixation with annual Cabinet reshuffles. In Mo Mowlam's case the only reason for moving her would be if she were an impediment to future progress. That's a fine call and one that only Blair can make. The likelihood is that if he makes it in his current exhausted state he will probably make the wrong decision.
Drapier said at the outset that the events of this week will have long-term significance. Jim Mitchell's committee he has mentioned. The continuing saga of the Lenihan medical expenses is one that will stick in the public mind. Its ramifications, if the charges are proven, are very uncomfortable for those who were even peripherally involved.
And finally this was a hopeful week in Northern Ireland. In spite of the Stormont farce of the previous week the peace process is still intact and that is the real strength of what was hammered out on Good Friday - the capacity of the process to withstand reverses however serious and get back to the business in hand.