THE week in the Chamber was dominated by what Dick Spring termed the "definite error of judgment" in the Niall Stokes Michael D. Higgins affair. Early in the week there had been great speculation among those of us around the corridors that Niall Stokes would go, particularly as Fianna Fail had turned up the heat by putting down a Dail motion.
However, on Monday night John Bruton's statement that no regulation had been broken seemed to damp down this speculation.
Bruton's early intervention seemed to be a calculated effort to ensure there would be no more slippage from the Fine Gael ranks, particularly after Alan Dukes's very definite and clear statement regarding Stokes's position on the one o'clock radio news on RTE on Monday.
Drapier can reveal that there were some very annoyed people in the Fine Gael ranks at Bruton's statement, in that it was seen as taking the pressure off not only Stokes, but the Labour Party, at a very early stage, even before the story got going.
This annoyance manifested it self later on Tuesday when it transpired that for the first time in living memory the Government had decided not to put down an amendment to the Fianna Fail motion which had called for the resignations of Stokes and Higgins. This omission quite clearly showed that the Government "were all over the place" on this issue.
On Tuesday night the debate started with Sile de Valera and John O'Donoghue leading the charge for Fianna Fail. Looking at their performance at this and other similar issues, it struck Drapier that Fianna Fail never seems to have the stomach for abusing their parliamentary colleagues.
Maybe it's something to do with the fact that they are not accustomed to "having the shoe on the other foot" Drapier would have thought that by now they would have learned from the pioneers of parliamentary abuse, the Labour Party and the Democratic Left.
Dick Spring replied for the Labour Party, whose Ministers and backbenchers were obviously all ordered in to the chamber to put on a brave face. Dick did what Labour seem to be doing much more frequently these days, admitting they were wrong.
However, the body language, or indeed the lack of it on the Government benches, said it all. Apart from a token appearance towards the end of Spring's speech by Jim Higgins, the Government Chief Whip, there was very little evidence of Fine Gael coming in to "doughnut" the Tanaiste or his Labour colleagues.
THE vote on Wednesday was carried as anticipated by the Government. Alan Dukes did his duty and voted with the Government. The lack of a Government amendment to a motion which castigated the Minister certainly raised a few eyebrows. The normal response by a government would be to put down a motion indicating total support for the Minister.
Obviously, Fine Gael baulked at this and the fact that only Fine Gael's Donal Carey spoke on the entire debate is another indication of their uneasiness.
There are very few in here who feel that Stokes should not have been sacrificed on the altar of OTA (openness, transparency and accountability). The opposition are "pushing an open door" in Fine Gael's ease at least, when they continuously remind the Government benches that it's one law for Labour and another for the rest of us.
While Labour are prepared to admit political mistakes, they have a history of refusing point blank to take the consequences, not only in this Government with Stokes, Higgins and Eithne Fitzgerald, but also in the previous government when Emmet Stagg was in some bother.
However, when the shoe is on the other foot, Albert Reynolds's or Harry Whelehan's head, Coveney or Hogan, Labour expects its pound of flesh. Drapier is speaking for many in this House and particularly in Fine Gael when he states that there is general incredulity that Labour can get away without sacrificing some one as politically insignificant as Niall Stokes, while at the same time Fine Gael's own "kith and kin" are made bite the dust.
John O'Donoghue's comparison of Labour being "Rottweilers" and Fine Gael being "poodles" is most apt and Drapier would sincerely warn John Bruton that the way on which this and other such issues have been handled by the Fine Gael leadership has caused severe uneasiness within the ranks and will not be forgotten.
In an obvious effort to divert media and public attention from the Stokes Higgins issue, the Government issued the ethics declarations of its programme managers. Drapier wonders if, in this era of openness, we will now get to the stage where anyone who is appointed to a semi state board will be obliged to disclose all. Drapier wonders would we ever get anyone to sit on these boards in the future if that was the case.
Politics sure is a funny old game. There was doom and gloom around here on Wednesday morning when the initial indications from Dublin West were leaking out.
The news was extremely grave for the main political parties, but particularly for Labour. It was obvious even from the initial tallies that Labour's previous vote of 22 per cent was annihilated and so it was when the final results were called out.
All the main parties, including Fianna Fail, were down in the mouth, but as the day moved on the smiles were beginning to break out on Fianna Fail faces. Drapier was long on his way home for his Easter holidays when the news broke that Fianna Fail had taken the Dublin West seat against all the odds. The Donegal victory was the icing on the cake.
There is a lesson in all of this for the major parties. While it could be said that by elections, by their nature, are difficult to call, there is no doubt that the electorate are telling the established parties that they would disregard their views at their peril, and the Dublin West election is a classic illustration. There is no doubt that Joe Higgins will mount a very strong campaign in the coming general election.
Labour TDs and their public representatives must be extremely worried for their own positions, given the total collapse of the Labour vote. It is generally accepted that this poor showing will be repeated right across the country, particularly in Dublin, at the next election unless some dramatic change of fortunes takes place in the meantime.
Democratic Left cannot feel easy, either. The fact that it did not contest Dublin West, which should be a heartland for its support, does not augur well for its future hopes.
It is, indeed, ironic that in both constituencies it was the Fine Gael transfers that elected their old arch enemy Fianna Fail. Maybe this is a pointer for the future, and there were even some around the House on Wednesday suggesting that perhaps the time was not that far away when Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will tie the knot. Stranger things happen in politics.
Bertie Ahern was once referred to by Charlie Haughey as the most cunning politician he had ever known. This weekend, that crown fits quite easily on Bertie's head from at least two perspectives his calling the election "out of the blue", catching all others unawares, was the first leg in his strategy and "changing the mould", by having all his troops searching out preference votes.
The results will have a devastating effect on the Rainbow Coalition cohesion. The "glue" came slightly unstuck over the StokesHiggins affair. From now on there will be much more manoeuvring by each Government party to assert itself. There may be tough times ahead in the Government ranks.