While sitting quietly on a bar-stool the other night enjoying "The O'Donoghue Hour", Drapier's thoughts turned to a recent political event which received little attention, but is nonetheless intriguing: the Fine Gael front bench.
John Bruton was seeking to shore up his loyalists after a few wobbly months and to cover constituency bases, but he was quite clear that he wanted to "sharpen up" the party's policy message.
Now don't get Drapier wrong. Drapier wishes all the new spokespersons well and welcomes the promotion and advancement of some young talent, but the meteoric rise of Brian Hayes and Denis Naughton to shadow such political bruisers as Brian Cowen and Mary Harney raises some questions. Many, on both sides of the House, are wondering if John Bruton was wise to appoint them to such senior posts and, more importantly, if they were wise to accept.
While Brian Hayes's elevation to the front bench is not particularly surprising, his appointment to the sensitive Northern Ireland portfolio is. Brian is, Drapier understands, a trusted confidant of John Bruton and shares many of his instincts on Northern policy. Given that the North has always been one of Bruton's key weaknesses with the electorate, he's clearly saying that he's not for turning.
Bruton's comments that this appointment means he won't have to spend so much time on the North could also be seen as a signal that he's given up trying to compete in the policy area which Bertie Ahern has dominated for the last three years.
Hayes's particular skills, especially his impetuous populism, will not serve him well in this portfolio. In the current climate he will find it difficult establishing his credentials with nationalist figures.
On the other hand Denis Naughton's promotion came not so much as a surprise, but as a shock. Upon hearing the news of young Denis's appointment as Fine Gael frontbench spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, one of Drapier's less charitable colleagues was heard uttering the immortal words of the late Frank Cluskey, "Well, there's confidence for ye!"
Denis is an amiable and capable deputy, but he is as yet unblooded and too inexperienced for appointment to the third most senior portfolio. Naughton's promotion is even less understandable when one sees other Fine Gael deputies of the calibre of David Staunton, Michael Creed and Paul Brad- ford passed over.
Staunton, in particular, showed his mettle as Nora Owen's No 2 during the excruciatingly long and detailed debates on the Copyright Bill. Drapier is sorry not to see him better rewarded on this occasion.
Perhaps it was the news of Denis Naughton's appointment as her shadow or the short respite after the vote of confidence, either way Mary Harney was firing on all cylinders when she appeared at the PAC. As Drapier predicted last week she and Senator Joe O'Toole announced new regulatory powers for auditors. This combined with her earlier announcement of tougher measures to tackle white-collar crime showed that she had already started her fight-back and is recovering some of the prestige she lost in the preceding weeks.
Indeed, she demonstrated self-deprecating good humour at the PAC when, responding to Pat Rabbitte's query if she wanted to see some auditors end up in prison, she replied that her views on whether people should go to jail had caused enough difficulties in the past.
Mary Harney's heralding of the end of self-regulation for auditors and accountants was welcomed from all sides of the House. There are many, and Drapier must confess to tend towards the view, who believe the era of self-regulation for many of our more august professions and disciplines is coming to an end.
Less than two weeks after the Government announced its anti-inflation package, SIPTU president Des Geraghty is back on his platform saying the package is not working. Drapier is aware that a week is a long time in politics, but a fortnight is a short time in economics. Des's theory that we give ourselves bigger pay increases and spend our way out is reminiscent of his old Workers' Party days.
Drapier wonders if Des and his colleagues are missing something fundamental here. If unions fall back into being seen as unreconstructed throw-backs of the 1970s and 1980s it's difficult to see how they can remain relevant to the lives of the many tens of thousands of people who aren't involved in companies where traditional labour relations matter.
It has long since fascinated Drapier that Northern Ireland is the only place on Earth with a marching season. This is not to denigrate or demean the culture and traditions of the Orange and other loyal institutions. Surely the irony of loyalists barricading and blocking off roads in order to ensure the right to walk those self-same roads is not lost on the brethren in Grand Lodge?
Throughout the past difficult weeks, David Trimble has acted as the leader and First Minister of all the people of Northern Ireland, and despite the fact that Portadown is in his own constituency, has resisted all temptation to play to the gallery.
Indeed in a development overlooked during the week, Drapier was delighted to see one of Mr Trimble's close associates in Portadown, David Thompson, calling for a new start and for both sides to sit down and talk together without preconditions.
Portadown, let alone Drumcree, has never been a cockpit of progressive thought, but the last few months have seen the anti-agreement Orangemen there move from having a strategy to using tactics to indulging in antics. The net effect is that they have bolstered Trimble's plans to unhitch the Orange Order from his party's Ulster Unionist Council.
While the Orange Order proceeded to shoot itself in the foot, Bertie Ahern quietly and stealthily concentrated on last week's real political issue, namely the Policing (Northern Ireland) Bill. The legislation implementing the Patten report completed its House of Commons stages during the week and goes to the House of Lords in the week ahead. While most of the media coverage had focused on the RUC name and cap badge, the real battleground has been plans for lateral entry levels.
Many in the SDLP like Seamus Mallon and Alex Atwood have been expressing fears that the British government is watering down the Patten proposals to allow officers from other forces enter the service at senior management level and thereby change the existing management culture there.
Drapier likes this time of the year: it's amazing how much gets done when people think we're all away doing nothing.