A week is a long time in politics, as Harold Wilson famously remarked. For the Coalition parties and some Ministers, this has been a decidedly flaky week. The Opposition parties seemed more united and effective than has been seen since the O'Flaherty affair. The prospect of defeat of the Government on a major issue was only avoided because John Gormley and Trevor Sargent inadvertently missed a critical 73-71 division.
John O'Donoghue looked a shaken man after a vigorous debate on the McBrearty affair. Mary O'Rourke was feeling the heat at the CI╔/ESAT inquiry. Micheβl Martin was particularly unimpressive when responding to a spontaneous debate in an almost full Dβil chamber on the abortion issue.
Mary Harney sent out con- fusing signals on the referendum, and was clearly discomfited by the Tom Gildea outburst, but seemed unable to respond as her instincts would normally dictate.
And Bertie Ahern was more tetchy and tight-lipped than we have seen him since the early days of this Government, when he accused the Opposition in the Ray Burke controversy of hounding a decent man from office.
The Government's failure to deal effectively with the McBrearty affair was forensically and graphically set out by Alan Shatter and Brendan Howlin. If one-tenth of the charges of Garda misconduct instanced are true, it is enough to sicken - and frighten - the average citizen.
Yet John O'Donoghue seemed paralysed by the controversy and it was unsurprising, in the light of his speech, that he took such a heavy pounding from Michael Noonan, Ruair∅ Quinn, Jim Higgins, Pat Rabbitte and John Gormley. Drapier was left with the conviction that it was as much in the interests of honourable members of the Garda S∅ochβna as in the interests of the oppressed McBrearty family that a tribunal of inquiry be established forthwith. The disposition towards bombast that served O'Donoghue so well in opposition is a distinct handicap in office. It was left to Mary Hanafin to put up any semblance of a credible case for the Government. Her position seemed to be that we will indeed have such an inquiry but not yet.
The critical analysis that might usually be expected of the Opposition speeches on the McBrearty affair was stymied because of the bizarre distraction created by what Pat Rabbitte, apparently wrongly, described as Tom Gildea's maiden speech. Initially the House seemed transfixed by Gildea's explicit charges of criminality against former Justice Minister Nora Owen.
To make matters worse, even when challenged, the present Justice Minister refused to intervene and instead betrayed a demeanour untroubled by the new direction of the debate.
His determination to ostentatiously sit on his hands may yet cause his political credibility more damage than the damage inflicted on himself by Tom Gildea. Having persuaded Gildea and fellow Government-supporting Donegal Independent Harry Blaney to vote against the inquiry into Garda misconduct in the McBrearty affair, the Government now seems unable to concede the censure debate demanded by Fine Gael. Without Gildea and Blaney, the Government may have faced defeat - but what are the implications if a member can make any unfounded outrageous charge and simply technically withdraw it later without any sanction?
Bertie Ahern was absent on Wednesday night on a pub opening commitment when the row erupted. When it inevitably spilled over into Thursday he was absent on a constituency tour of Kerry North with the attendant media. The reluctance of the Opposition to sit on Fridays is hardly the most compelling evidence to support Micheβl Martin's argument for the guillotine coming down on the abortion debate!
Michael Noonan and Liz McManus led a number of deputies in pleading for an early return in January, when Committee Stage could be taken on the floor of the House without impeding the Government's legislative programme.
Success on the abortion referendum is no longer guaranteed, as some of the arguments are beginning to fray at the edges and it is becoming apparent that the more extreme elements on the pro-life side will campaign against it.
The Government misjudged the terms of its response to the Opposition parties' motion on the McBrearty affair. The result was that indefinable shift that takes place in the life of a parliament when the Opposition suddenly looks capable of replacing the Government, as distinct from merely defeating the Government on a headcount on the night. It didn't happen the previous week when the Opposition seemed to plough a more fertile furrow, with Mary O'Rourke on the ropes with Aer Lingus, Sellafield, Eircom shares, public transport and traffic chaos. Both Michael Noonan and Ruair∅ Quinn will know that they must now maintain the impetus, and Bertie Ahern will know that he must steady the ship. The PDs' wobble on the abortion referendum will only put him under more pressure.
Incidentally, Drapier enjoyed Mary O'Rourke telling the CI╔ inquiry that everything that appeared in the newspapers about internal CI╔ matters came about as a result of Freedom of Information inquiries!
Speaking of inquiries, if it has been a bad week for the Government, it has also been a bad week for parliament.
The High Court decision in Abbeylara seems to have held that a Dβil committee has no right or power to inquire into anything that may reflect adversely on the reputation of persons outside the House.
Did the DIRT report reflect adversely, and to whatever degree, on the reputation of the management of the Irish banks? Is it the view of the Irish people - excluding those who had bogus non-resident accounts - that the DIRT inquiry should not have happened?
Drapier will be surprised if the Supreme Court does not recognise the constitutional imperative of the separation of powers and the right of the Oireachtas to inquire into matters of public interest.