Year of rising temperatures in the corridors of power as the politicians prepare for their day of reckoning

The year 2001 was gone almost as soon as it arrived. It was a year in which the temperature gradually mounted as the dies irae approached - though as yet it is still thankfully some distance off, or so we think.

It was the year too in which many of the electorate began to make up their minds about the next election - though, in truth, most of us are still in the dark as to what way they will go. Only one thing is certain - nobody is taking anything for granted.

It was a year in which few reputations were seriously enhanced and a few took a bit of a pummelling. There were no Good Friday spectaculars, no dazzling solo runs - and there were a few costly own goals.

Certainly it was not a year in which the making of awards came easily, but Drapier, dutiful to the end, must plough on.

There was little competition for Minister of the Year. For Mary O'Rourke it was the annus horribilis - a year of personal tragedy, a nasty injury at year's end and chaos in every State company under her aegis - CI╔, Aer Lingus, Eircom, Aer Rianta? Need Drapier say more? Mary O'Rourke survived 2001, and that in itself was an achievement.

Micheβl Martin survived too in Health, but the jury is out on whether he manages to actually change anything. In fairness, he handled the abortion referendum issue with good humour and competence, though Drapier suspects he was as glad to see it out of the Oireachtas as the rest of us.

Charlie McCreevy is, as they say, an acquired taste. He had another bravura year, enjoying himself no end and without the slightest doubt troubling his mind as to the rightness of his own views and actions.

And for that reason, among others, only time will tell whether Charlie was the greatest Finance Minister of all time or whether it was he who shot the Celtic Tiger and stored up enormous problems for his successor. Even if Drapier suspects more the latter than the former, judgment must be suspended.

As to the other ministers, Joe Walsh, with good back up from Noel Davern, did well on the foot-and -mouth crisis. Michael Woods was Michael Woods, rising without trace in education as in every other ministry he has held. Dermot Ahern was effective and businesslike. Noel Dempsey saw himself under pressure as never before as one project after another came unstuck. Very little went right for him in 2001.

These were the ministerial high and low lights. In passing, Drapier has to make a special award - the Iodine Tablet Award to Joe Jacob who cheered us all up at a very dismal time.

The biggest single failure of the year was not the outcome of the Nice Referendum but the way the Government handled it. We had Mary Harney, S∅le de Valera and Eamon O'Cuiv on an indulgence sharing their Euro-scepticism of personal trips while most of the Cabinet simply stayed away.

The only real leadership came from Brian Cowen who dominated the debate intellectually, helped mainly by Opposition figures such as Alan Dukes, Jim O'Keeffe and Ruair∅ Quinn.

Cowen also played a big part in keeping the Peace Process on the rails and it is for these reasons that Drapier nominates him as Minister of the Year.

Opposition Frontbencher of the Year also poses difficulties. It was a year in which the Opposition groups opened feebly enough but grew in competence and cohesion as the year advanced, making the Government distinctly uncomfortable on more than one occasion. Drapier still does not understand why the Opposition does not force the Government to spend even more time in the Dβil chamber where real damage can be done and has been done of late.

That said, there were some strong performances, not least from Michael Noonan and Ruair∅ Quinn, and also from Brendan Howlin, Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore, Brian Hayes, Gay Mitchell, Jim Higgins and latterly Derek McDowell.

In the end, the award was split between Gay Mitchell for his mastery of his health brief and Jim Higgins for his superb exposΘ of the facts behind the McBrearty affair, no flash in the pan this but the result of months of dogged work. Eamon Gilmore was a close runner-up.

We now move to the backbenchers. In picking the Backbencher of the Year, there is a major difference between being in Government or Opposition.

There are few worse jobs than being a Government backbencher - patronised even by junior ministers, attacked if you criticise the Government and sneered at if you praise them, you get all the blame locally for the Government's mistakes and none of the credit for its successes. It's hard to make an impact and difficult enough to carve out a real role. But one person doing such at the moment is Tony Killeen. He has more ability than many in Cabinet but a combination of geography and Independents has left him stranded. Most people in here would agree that if Fianna Fβil get back, then Tony Killeen should be given his chance. He has waited long enough.

Opposition backbenchers have it easier and Drapier's main complaint is that they are far too mannerly and responsible. A Gerry L'Estrange or Sean Dunne of old would really show up the present lot.

Louis J. Belton is without doubt the most colourful, witty and effective heckler and his arrows generally find their target. In a funny way Roscommon/Longford provides the strongest Opposition backbench team with Denis Naughten, sharp, bright and energetic, complementing Louis J.'s flamboyance.

Most would say it was a bad year for committees. The Abbeylara judgment killed off that committee and possibly put paid to Sean Doherty's committee also. More than that it raised a question mark and created a climate of uncertainty over virtually all committees.

Drapier has not much doubt but that the Supreme Court will restore some sanity to the situation but, one way or another, we all need to take a hard look at the tasks we expect our committees to undertake and then to legally copperfasten their powers to do so.

That said there were some good performances by a number of committees. Michael Finucane is sure-footed as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Sean Doherty did not put a foot wrong despite enormous pressure from powerful external forces in bringing his committee as far as it could go. All of us would have been wise to listen earlier to what Bernard Durkan's European Affairs Committee was saying about how we handle EU business and maybe then the debacle of Nice could have been avoided - and of course Dessie O'Malley continues to cast a beady eye on foreign powers great and small in his role as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. No outright winner but a good performance all round.

Finally, in the Lower House we look at the performance of the Independents. Joe Higgins is the most vocal and energetic, Caoimhgh∅n ╙ Caolβin is always well-scripted but has little sense of the House and has yet to dominate it in any way.

Tom Gildea made an impact and was castigated by the Opposition, Seamus Healy has yet to rise from the local to the national in any real way but that may come, while Mildred Fox continues to be herself and all the better for that. But Drapier's Independent TD of the Year Award goes to Tony Gregory for the shrewd and effective way he has used the House over a long number of years to further the interests of his constituents and some of the radical causes he espouses.

In the Upper House it was a livelier year than usual, a much better debate by far on the abortion issue than was the case in the Dβil and of course there were the efforts of Shane Ross, Joe O'Toole and others which forced the Government to abandon its ill-conceived attempt to ban opinion polling.

Generally, all of the Independents performed well, none more so than the Government Independent, Maurice Hayes, whose contributions are always to the point, usually pithy and always wise. There were indeed many good performances and of course we had the strange case of the permanent absentee, but the Golden Toga award for Senator of the Year goes to the Cathaoirleach, Brian Mullooly.

Brian has been 20 years in the Seanad, the last five of them in the Chair, and it is he more than anybody else who sets the tone and style of the House and through fairness, decency and good humour has won universal respect and helped maintain high standards. It is not his fault that so little has happened by way of much needed Seanad reform. And finally, the Politician of the Year. Sadly, no single person stood above the rest so this year Drapier regrets the absence of an award. It was that sort of year.