SOMETIME back the "Dear John" letters aroused much controversy. Readers will recall that bogus letters were written to various "personalities" to see how they would react to hard luck stories outlined in the letters. This mode of operating died a death when the more "politically correct" in "our society decided that this was unfair way to operate. Drapier was reminded of these letters when he read about the "Dear Fergus" letter in the Divorce Referendum High Court action. A copy of a letter was produced in court whereby Conor Quinn (brother of Minister Ruairi Quinn) on behalf of his advertising company wrote to Fergus Finlay, the bearded Head Guru (of the unelected kind) of the Labour Party in extremely familiar and cosy terms concerning the awarding of the referendum advertising contract. It remains to be seen, at this stage, whether or not this letter was written on the basis that the contract had already been awarded. The letter referred to "burying" the announcement of the appointment in a long winded press release.
The Opposition was getting hot under the collar this week about these revelations in court and particularly Fianna Fail saw it as an opportunity to "get at" their bete noir Fergus Finlay, who readers will recall was, to say the least, a reluctant participant in the last government.
There is no doubt that these revelations call into question the sincerity of particularly the Labour Party on the issue of openness, transparency and accountability. This whole affair reminds Drapier of the hiatus caused when Labour blotted their copybook in the first weeks of Government with Fianna Fail when some of them employed members of their families and friends as advisers.
On this latest twist, at the very least, they seem to have been covering their tracks. If one asks Drapier, they are all the sane and the new Policy Unit for Proinsias is a case in point. He took on a bunch of new advisers setting up the equivalent of the new Tanaiste's office. But where did he advertise for applicants? Why, none other than the Democratic Left's news bulletin, which must have a wide circulation (within that party but nowhere else). Obviously De Rossa must feel that Democratic Left supporters are more intelligent than the rest of us. Oh, the cynicism of it all.
THE Lowry affair threw up suspicions about the tendering process for Government jobs and yet here is a suggestion that there was "an inside track" in operation. Questions need to be answered (by the elected and not by the unelected who are not answerable to the public - so butt out Fergus!) and if the answers are not forthcoming over the next few days, it could be interesting when the Dail returns next week. Naturally, the Government will keep its head down until this one blows over, as it has tended to do in other crises to date.
Drapier was extremely surprised at news reports on Tuesday about the possibility of TDs being suspended for lengthy periods from the Dail. On closer scrutiny it appeared that this report was a reference to the sub committee meeting made up of a number of members who were looking at the mechanisms whereby Oireachtas members would be obliged to disclose outside interests.
Like most of his colleagues Drapier has been wondering how this will be implemented and it would appear that the details will be on the way to us in the very near future. But Drapier would be somewhat critical of his colleagues who are on the committee; they would appear to have used the committee's meeting as a PR exercise.
Drapier thought it would have been more "ethical" of the committee if it had at least informed the rest of its colleagues of its views before going public. Drapier found it somewhat distasteful to be lectured on the public media rather than being first informed personally of our obligations.
Readers might recall that when Drapier referred to this previously he raised the issue of a Minister's spouse being required to disclose their interests also. At that time Drapier posed the question: what if some Ministers do not have a spouse, but a "partner"? It will be interesting to see how the powers that be get around that.
If they can't, maybe some Ministers may be availing of the divorce legislation.
The run up to the Budget has seen some interesting dog fighting, not least among the Rainbow Coalition partners. The much publicised bickering between Proinsias De Rossa and Richard Bruton is a case in point. Pat Rabbitte put his head between the lion's jaws when he had the temerity to rake a late night phone call to RTE to contradict, of all people, Dick Spring, on what was or was not the "definitive" Government response to the long term unemployed situation. Drapier advises his old friend Pat to tread warily; hell hath no greater fury than Dick Spring scorned.
READERS will recall the wholesale leaking of the details before last year's Budget was read in the Dail and it would appear that yet again each of the coalition partners is trying to steal a march on the other.
Proinsias was at it again this week by stating that there would be cuts in PRSI and some alleviation for the lower paid, whereas poor old John Bruton was trying to dampen expectations. In effect what we are seeing is a mad scramble from the coalition parties to try to lead the public to believe that they are "getting their way" on fiscal policy. Some of the Government parties are behaving as if they are in opposition by "launching" their pre Budget submission.
Labour, through Tommy Broughan, was at it by highlighting the meeting which party members had with Ruairi Quinn on budgetary issues recently. The adage that "Politics is the art of the possible" must now be replaced with "Politics is the art of creating perception".
Drapier wonders will there be any sustenance in the Budget for beleaguered Justice Minister Nora Owen. Her very public put down by Minister Quinn over the Castlerea and women's prisons last year has severely rankled and has been made all the more difficult to swallow in view of escalating crime.
Retired Judge Frank Martin was extremely scathing in the Sunday Tribune of this Government's resolve on crime. Next week's Budget will reveal whether or not the Government is prepared to throw Nora a lifeline.
The New Year saw the attempted relaunching of Minister Lowry's image with the main news being the Telecom "strategic alliance" issue. Drapier noticed David Begg, the union leader in this area, calling on the Government to "safeguard jobs", whereas Lowry was indicating that there would, in fact, be losses. Drapier wonders will this be a source of discontent among the coalition partners.
Where stand the supposed defenders of the worker in Labour and Democratic Left? Drapier has no doubt that the ultimate solution will be to dress up this part privatisation in the flowery term of "strategic alliance", with a large sweetener to the various employees who are no longer wanted. Drapier's view is that these parties in Government are now overseeing the beginning of the end of the major semi state sector. They should come clean and admit that.