Things are hotting up as we get closer to the ail return of the Dail. The view around the corridors of Leinster House this week was that Padraig Flynn, not for the first time, put his two big feet in it during his interview on The Late Late Show on Friday of last week.
Drapier did not see the interview but was struck by the number of people who remarked to him the next day (before the latest twist really took hold) that they regarded his performance as over the top. These would have been people who would not normally have been that political yet had commented to Drapier they did not think much of his performance.
Drapier would have thought that his position for reappointment was always somewhat tenuous in view of the fact that he would never have been perceived to be in the Ahern camp in Fianna Fail. But having said that, he was doing, by all accounts, a very good job in Europe.
Well, he certainly put the cat among the pigeons in the interview going on the reaction in the media, particularly from Mr Tom Gilmartin. Before the Late Late the big question regarding Mr Gilmartin was, will he or will he not come to the tribunal? It would appear that after Padraig Flynn's performance there is now no doubt that he will.
Drapier happened to see a snippet of Questions & Answers last Monday night and was taken by the restrained attitude of Jim Mitchell, who spoke on the side of caution by suggesting that this issue be left to the tribunal so that the two sides can give their story.
Drapier thinks he is right, but it will make for an interesting session, particularly when the inimitable Pee Flynn comes to be questioned by the Big Wigs of the Law Library.
A by-product of all these tribunals and inquiries is a tendency for the system to go completely to the other extreme in regard to the issue of disclosure. Yet another form to fill in has winged its way to all Oireachtas members in the last couple of weeks requiring disclosure of donations. This is one of many we must now complete under the Ethics in Public Office Act and the Electoral Act.
A couple of years ago Drapier would have said that all this was unnecessary, but given the fact that over the last while we have been bombarded by revelations and allegations, most of which have not been proved, he has now come around to saying that this form-filling is necessary. But it sure does cause us difficulty.
Coming back to Padraig Flynn's outburst, Drapier stated that Jim Mitchell's reaction was restrained. This was in contrast to the aggressive response from Ruairi Quinn against Fianna Fail and Bertie Ahern.
Drapier and others have noticed over the last number of months that Ruairi Quinn has not pulled any punches in his dealings with the Taoiseach. His call to Bertie Ahern to clarify Pee Flynn's position was widely publicised, but that was that. No one else took up the cudgels.
Most people, Drapier thinks, felt that he had gone too far in that most generally accept that the tribunal should be left to do its work, that people, if implicated, are entitled to their say at the tribunal.
Ruairi Quinn has bared his teeth at the Taoiseach on a number of occasions recently. Drapier can recall one such incident in the chamber before Christmas when he pushed Bertie too far. The Taoiseach, uncharacteristically, fought fire with fire, to the surprise of Ruairi, who pulled back somewhat. It was felt that Quinn was trying to show that he is no easy touch as regards going into government with Ahern in the future.
The new session coming up will be even more interesting than usual in that the Labour-DL merger will have been finally bedded in.
The political scene in Leinster House will be completely changed, and it will be intriguing to see how the Labour and former DL members actually jell on the floor of the House.
Normally, the leader of the party is the person who does the most speaking. Drapier wonders will de Rossa and Rabbitte try to outshine Ruairi Quinn. While there is quite a lot of speculation about the new Labour front bench, the body language on the floor of the Dail will be, in Drapier's view, much more illuminating to the political watchers.
Speaking of the new Labour front bench, Drapier asks did anyone notice over the last few days a succession of Labour/DL people on the airwaves? Drapier supposes we can expect more of this over the next week as they strive to impress Ruairi.
The fact that politicians over the last while have been climbing into the centre of Irish politics came to Drapier's mind again when he read a letter from that former radical, Dr Bill Tormey, who over the years had been extremely outspoken on behalf of the left. But lo and behold, this week he is eulogising the new coming together of the left (albeit towards the centre). How times have changed.
At long last, at the Flood tribunal we have come to the core evidence. More people felt that the evidence to date was somewhat dull, but it is only in the last few days that Mr Gogarty has come to his version of the events surrounding the famous lands in north Dublin. Again, it would be unwise to say too much in advance of hearing the other side or sides to the story. Just look what happened after the Vincent Browne programme.
However, the fact that we now hear these allegations from, in effect, the horse's mouth is something of a shock to the system despite the fact that most of the information tendered had already been in the public domain following leaks to the papers.
Drapier thinks Vincent Browne raised a very relevant point on Wednesday night when he wondered why the names of the five or six councillors mentioned by James Gogarty are not revealed. Apparently, one of the barristers questioned this omission to no avail.
Maybe we will hear about this in due course, but surely if they are already known to the tribunal they should be represented at these hearings. The sooner it is cleared up the better.
Another point raised in his programme was whether Ray Burke could have had a Garda driver/minder at his house at the time of the famous meeting, who could confirm who attended the meeting. Burke was hurrying out of the meeting so it is more than likely the Garda might have been there. Maybe the tribunal team will check this if they haven't already.
Maybe rather than decrying the spending of taxpayers' money on all the legal eagles (Drapier cannot win on this one), Drapier actually thinks that they may very well earn their money by showing their cross-examining skills on this occasion.
Drapier predicts that this tribunal will get nastier and nastier and he does not envy the task of Mr Justice Flood.
Drapier, like others in here, always felt that Des O'Malley could, on occasion, be over the top on at least one issue, the beef industry. Even during a debate on an entirely unrelated matter, if there was any angle even slightly touching on cattle Des O'Malley was in like a shot. It didn't surprise Drapier when the unions representing Department of Agriculture workers came out castigating Des O'Malley's "straw breaking the camel's back" in his evidence to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. Strong inference could be taken from a lot of the comment over the years about the Department's involvement with the beef industry.
The civil servants are putting down a marker, and it will be interesting to see how the issue will be dealt with. Civil servants regard themselves as a soft touch for criticism, given that they can't fight back.
Drapier notices the Opposition is homing in on Brian Cowen, with a vote of no confidence being put down on his handling of the Tallaght Hospital.
They will say the health system is in crisis whereas the Minister will say that £3.5 billion is being spent now on it as opposed to £3 billion last year. (Try telling that to the punters on the ground). So where is it all going?
It's ironic that the Opposition should be hauling Brian Cowen over the coals about health spending when it was they when they were in government who brought in the law restricting the health agencies from overspending.
Brian Cowen just happened to be the Minister when this law was implemented for the first time. Again, this illustrates the luxury of Opposition.