DRAPIER: Drapier was proud to be a member of the Oireachtas this week when Bertie Ahern honoured his promise to recall the Dáil to debate the war in Iraq.
The Fianna Fáil deputies' robust applause of Brian Cowen's defence of the Government's decision to maintain existing refuelling and fly-over facilities for US military and civilian aircraft gave a clear indication as to how the FF leadership would go when that post becomes vacant.
Joe Higgins and the Independents, particularly Dr Jerry Cowley, were particularly vociferous, reflecting inside the House, the passion displayed by the demonstrators outside the gates. Enda Kenny stumbled over a good speech, happy, no doubt, that the FG republican John Deasy was unable to attend and so could not vote with an otherwise very united opposition. Michael D Higgins's grasp of the details of the subject was reflected in his restrained and incisive contribution, which held the attention of both the House and the press gallery.
The Green Party leader, Trevor Sargent, was not as strong as he has been in the past on this issue. He has still not recovered from his failure to condemn the recent anarchist violence at Shannon Airport. The entire debate was a model of its kind and upheld the best traditions of the Oireachtas. And to cap it all we had the wonderfully contradictory spectacle of Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin on behalf of Sinn Féin, proposing an amendment calling for weapons of mass destruction to be decommissioned and verifiably put beyond use! There was a spontaneous explosion of laughter at this incredible display of brass neck.
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Labour laid undisputed claim to the ownership of the Freedom of Information legislation in the House last week. They used Private Members' time to introduce a Bill designed to extend the current Act for twelve months. During this period hearings could take place with all groups involved to outline ways in which the existing FOI Act could be improved while retaining its core principles. Labour leader Pat Rabbitte closed the debate by making the telling observation that neither of the two Government senior counsel, Michael McDowell and Brian Lenihan, had put forward a single argument against the one year extension.
It was also interesting to hear Ruairí Quinn outline the history of the FOI. In the 1992 negotiations for the FF/Labour Programme for Government, FF resisted any commitment to introduce FOI legislation, even in the heat of the Beef tribunal hearings. Quinn described, to the Dáil, how Brian Cowen had refused point blank to include a commitment to introduce an FOI Bill.
The compromise that ultimately appeared in the Programme for Government was merely a commitment to study the issue. Less than two years later, at Labour's insistence, the negotiations for the Rainbow Coalition gave an undertaking to introduce FOI legislation and Eithne Fitzgerald did the business. *******
Drapier does not normally have much contact with the farming community, but a visit to north Munster, to attend a funeral of a relative, was an eye-opener. The level of worry about the future of agriculture as a traditional family business was palpable.
For the first time, according to the people he listened to, they see none of their children expressing an interest in farming or wanting to continue with the business.
Fixed prices and rising costs are bad enough but the prospect of lower commodity prices with the advent of the DOHA round is depressing many traditional middle size farmers and their families. New ways of getting to open markets, to sell quality rather than quantity, as Franz Fischler recommended recently, are easier to describe than to deliver.
A relative, active in the IFA, was scathing about the current leadership of that organisation. "It is not as if the Taliban have taken over" to quote the boast of one of IFA president John Dillon's supporters. "It is more like the leadership of the Dublin regulated taxi-drivers, having disastrously lost that battle, has now taken over the leadership of the countryside" and that is just the point. The countryside is the real resource, not fixed prices, quotas and paperwork.
But as Drapier's man said, instead of welcoming agri-tourism and opening up the countryside, farmers, with the tacit support of the IFA, are demanding payment for access for walkers or else are closing down traditional paths to upland commonage.
Drapier got the clear message that until a new generation of leaders emerges within the IFA things will get worse. That was when the name of young Ruairí Deasy was mentioned in the hope that he would provide the same visionary leadership that his father Rickard Deasy did so many years ago.
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Drapier finds the annual whinge about the St Patrick's Day ministerial visits by the media and some envious Opposition politicians in both Houses both tiresome and dishonest. Long-distance travel through different time zones can be exhausting and, in reality, is not glamorous. Former Ministers have told Drapier that the receptions, dinners and parades are hard work. Working the room, listening to a lot of silly talk from Irish-Americans who have never been to Ireland and who hate the British because of the Famine requires a lot of energy and plenty of patience.
The reality is that St Patrick's Day and its associated focus upon Ireland, even for 24 hours, is a brand identity of such strength and association that most other countries in Europe, not to mention the rest of the world, would dearly wish for it. Many countries spend fortunes to promote the recognition of their very existence at a cost way beyond of what Irish Government Ministers actually spend. Drapier commends the achievements of successive governments in availing of St Patrick's Day festivals throughout the world to promote Ireland. As the world becomes more competitive we need to avail of every opportunity to keep feeding the Celtic Tiger.
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Colleagues in the Members' Bar cannot believe that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell of the PDs, is seriously contemplating extending Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne's contract for another two years.
Now, if there was a position as head of public relations and self-promotion then there is no cop in the country better qualified to be appointed to that job. But the behaviour of the gardaí from Donegal to Abbeylara and across the country with Blue Flu has all happened under Pat Byrne's watch.
His judgment, in the eyes of many of Drapier's colleagues who have a close contact with the gardaí at local level, is being questioned. Given the choice between popularity and management, the view of the force is that Byrne would go for popularity every time. This is will be an interesting appointment to watch in the coming weeks. Coincidentally, the Minister's successor, Rory Brady SC, our Attorney General, was not at all pleased that he was allocated London for his St Patrick's Day stint and especially to learn that he had to walk in the parade. Drapier has learned that the AG is not in the habit of walking the streets and mixing with the likes of Ken Livingstone.
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Drapier wonders on what €66,530,000 has been spent, delivering homeless services in the area of Dublin City Council in 2002? We are all aware of seeing more and more homeless people sleeping in doorways or on the foothpath. In 1993 a building on Conyngham Road was sold by the OPW to a developer for €120,000. Within eight years it was purchased and refurbished by the Dublin City Council for €8 million. The building will be used for a homeless service; needless to say no accommodation will be available for people who, for a wide variety of reasons, find themselves without a bed.