At last the place is quiet. Even Jim Mitchell seems to be taking a break. Certainly Drapier is, watching events from afar, little bothered by the usual hassle, surrounded by the joys of family life and trying as ever to be objective and fair-minded about all his colleagues; and of course succeeding.
No government in recent years has pulled down the shutters for August with the show in better shape than has Bertie Ahern. The air of general well-being is wondrous to behold. Most of the early glitches are gone, out of sight certainly, and the usual batch of departmental cock-ups are conspicuous only by their absence.
A good government? A lucky government? Maybe one, maybe both. Only time will tell, but for the moment at any rate the going is good. Always a dangerous time, says Drapier, but enjoy it.
Not, however, that everything is neat and tidy. Politics is like life. There are always a few loose ends around. As there are today.
For a start, the tribunals. They haven't gone away, you know. Drapier noted last Sunday's headlines about Charles Haughey's former personal adviser, Ms Catherine Butler, and the implications of what she might have to say. Drapier has no idea what she will say, but he knows her well enough to be certain it will be the plain, unvarnished truth. Catherine Butler is a decent person who worked very hard and very conscientiously, with no great reward to show for it all.
She is one of the smaller, vulnerable people who, through no fault of their own, have been damaged by the fallout from the tribunals. She has taken enough hard knocks in her time to know what is happening. She will not be pushed around, nor should she be, and whatever she has to say will stand the test of truth.
On the same subject, let Drapier take an unpopular line this morning. Drapier believes that when the full story of the money for Brian Lenihan's medical expenses emerges, Charles Haughey will emerge unscathed.
It all happened at a time in Fianna Fail when there was a great deal of looseness, carelessness and the like, not to mention the signing of blank cheques. And while Drapier believes CJH was loose and careless, on this issue at least, he was above board.
The story will not be straightforward, and it will not all make for nice reading, but CJH will come out better than his detractors and those running for cover would have it.
Drapier's final point at this stage on the tribunals is that we are still only at half-time, and, between those who are still on the field and those yet to tog out, the only certainty is that there will be further surprises.
The other loose end is, of course, the North. Does anyone know what is happening?
For Drapier, the most chilling report of the week was the suggestion that Charles Bennett was brutally murdered because the Provisionals were experiencing serious internal problems. His death, we are told, "reassures those elements that the war is not over, and the IRA is not gone away".
Then we have the Florida gunrunning, the continuing loyalist violence and thuggery, and the punishment beatings. So what is happening?
Truth, certainly, is a major casualty. John Bruton made this point, and as is his right as leader of the Opposition, he asked some straight questions of the Government and of Sinn Fein. They were fair questions, but the only reaction was silence from the Government and abuse from Gerry Adams.
Anybody who now questions Sinn Fein is, according to Mr Adams, "playing the unionists' game". It's insulting stuff, reminiscent of earlier unhappy times, when to oppose the then government was "to play England's game".
The unionists have a point. Would Bertie Ahern or Mary Harney share power with a party which still has an armed paramilitary wing? You don't have to think too long about that one.
If Sinn Fein is in the democratic process, it is entitled to be questioned and expected to answer legitimate questions, not insult those whose job it is to ask, Or expect to be taken at their word while calling into question the motives of all others.
Drapier has been turning his mind also to another battle looming ahead. It's strange these days how much of politics is about money, and this one is no exception. The money involved will put even Telecom into the shade.
Drapier is referring to the Government decision to invest the Telecom sell-off, and more besides, into a new national pensions fund. What is at stake is who will invest and manage the money and who will get the enormous fees such investment will generate.
One of the barely noticed sideshows in the Telecom floatation was the almost £80 million in fees which went to the brokers, bankers, PR people and the like. The fees bill was far higher than we had been led to believe it would be, and for many of those involved it was soft enough money.
Aer Lingus, Aer Rianta, the ESB and other potential privatisations will offer similar rich pickings. Mary O'Rourke has never been a supporter of the fat-cat culture and has a strong sense of guarding the public purse, and Drapier would advise her, before embarking on further flotations, to take a hard look at the cost involved in the Telecom exercise and ask whether it could have been done a lot cheaper.
It will, of course, be Charlie McCreevy who will have the big say on the investing of the Tele com-for-pensions funds. Already his mind is turning to the possibility of the exercise being carried out by an arm of the State - the National Treasury Management Agency. Drapier thinks he should look hard at this possibility. NTMA is one of the public enterprise success stories of recent times in its handling of our debt management and is a resource waiting to be used in the further public interest.
NTMA would need to be beefed up to undertake the task, but that can be done. Drapier's point is that there would be far greater political confidence in NTMA handling this work than in throwing it to the private sector, with the consequent slicing off of the sort of fees paid out in the Telecom exercise.
One way or another, expect a battle royal. The lobbying has started already. The private sector firms have clout and resources. Their lobbyists will be busy as the battle is fought out. We can all expect the occasional lunch invitation, or that game of golf at the K Club.
It is because the stakes are so high that Drapier wants to see all of this out in the open. The only national interest is that our funds are invested in a way that best ensures the solvency of pension payments in the years ahead, that this is done openly in an accountable way and at the lowest cost.