AFTER many years of waiting, we are to have a referendum on bail at the end of November. Nora Owen has apparently got her way at last. A referendum like this is ideal for a government, because it will get plenty of media attention, but at the same time is relatively uncontroversial and, in Drapier's opinion at least, will pass easily.
It diverts public attention from other, possibly more sensitive matters, and will excite only a minority of people, who will be mainly lawyers and human rights activists.
It will also give the impression that "something is being done" and that impression is vital to placate anxiety about the level of crime and the constant sense of fear and danger in which many of our citizens habitually live at a time when the police seem increasingly powerless in the face of serious and organised crime.
While the Bill which will be introduced to implement the new bail regulations when the referendum has passed has not yet been published, the Government's statement of what would be included was somewhat narrower than expected.
Many of the repetitive crimes committed by people on bail include burglaries and robberies, but these are not on the list. Perhaps by the time the referendum comes about the list will have been somewhat extended.
John Bruton certainly got a warm welcome in Washington. His speech to the two Houses of the United States Congress will probably do no harm, although there are substantial doubts, both in Dublin and Belfast, as to whether the optimism he expressed regarding a second IRA ceasefire is justified. Drapier supposes that in the circumstances the Taoiseach had to be optimistic rather than pessimistic.
There does not seem to be any visible evidence which would support the Taoiseach's expressions of optimism. The long-delayed meeting between John Hume and David Trimble may not have amounted to as much as John Bruton tried to read into it. Drapier puts a lot of credence in what Seamus Mallon has to say, and he described the Taoiseach's interpretation as "fanciful".
In general, the American influence nowadays must be all for the good. This is borne out by reports which suggest that, behind the scenes in Washington, Sinn Fein representatives are trying to convince the State Department, and the White House that their intentions are good. They are feeling the pressure of American disapproval of the cessation of the ceasefire and of the various explosions and other atrocities.
PRESSURE of one kind or another from the United States can hugely influence events in other countries. Iraq and Bosnia are good current examples. The influence is not necessarily always for the best, but so far as Northern Ireland is concerned few can complain.
From President Clinton's point of view it is probably an ideal foreign policy issue. US troops are never going to be involved here, yet it is a matter of some interest and limited concern for a lot of US citizens, tens of millions in fact.
As long as he continues to show an interest and an anxiety to broker a solution, he has to be on the side of the angels as far as many US electors are concerned.
The paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth, who helped bring down an Irish government, simply will not go away. There are probably quite a few who are not pleased at the prospect, but he is due for release from a Co Derry jail on December 23rd, and will then face no fewer than 60 charges of child sex abuse in the Republic.
Drapier wonders if all those charges would have been brought but for the fuss over what the Attorney General's office did, or failed to do, on the earlier occasion.
On the very day that the bringing of these new charges was disclosed, the Catholic Hierarchy announced it was seeking a derogation from canon law to enable it to pursue errant priests and religious more easily.
It seems at the moment that offences committed against 17 and 18-year-olds cannot be investigated, and when the victim passes 23 an investigation cannot start. Canon law does not seem to be unduly severe on clerical child sex abusers.
Cardinal Daly applied to Rome for this derogation, and Drapier is reminded that quite some time ago it was announced that he was about to retire and his successor was appointed. Nothing, however, seems to have happened.
Is Cardinal Daly to be deprived of his well-earned retirement for some more years? Is this due to the spate of clerical sex cases now besetting the Catholic Church? While the church is slowly trying to put its house in order so far as the actual abusers are concerned, a question also arises about those in authority over the abusers who may have known what was going on at different stages. Do the sanctions of canon law extend to them? The criminal law obviously does not.
IT is always sad to see a long and honourable political career grinding to a halt in acrimonious circumstances.
This is now happening to Brendan McGahon, who told the Fine Gael organisation in Louth on Thursday night that they had the choice of accepting him or not and that they had treated him with derision.
Brendan had let it be known some time ago that he would not be standing for the Dail again, but he subsequently changed his mind. The word from on high in Fine Gael was that Brendan made the right decision the first time and they wanted to see the back of him. That message got through to the delegates, many of whom by all accounts were new recruits to the organisation for the purposes of the convention.
Like some others in Fine Gael, Brendan is basically dissatisfied with the coalition with Labour and Democratic Left. He considers that the left-wing parties have an inordinate influence on Government policy. The difference between Brendan and some other Fine Gael deputies is that he is more outspoken and leaves nobody in any doubt about his feelings on the left wing, the IRA or generally liberal types.
It is rather a pity that there is apparently no room in Irish politics for an out-and-out individualist like Brendan.