It was a good week, almost a wholesome week, in here. The North has been with us so long, with so many big breakthroughs from Sunningdale on, followed by false starts and then crushing disappointments, that we have grown wary and cautious about taking anything for granted, certainly about taking anything at face value. We have learned with a certain worldly weariness to be sceptical.
Not so this week, which was as good a parliamentary week as Drapier has known. This time there is a general view that the Belfast Agreement will work, that it is strong enough to withstand the inevitable assaults, and a realisation, too, that the general public, as distinct from the political loudmouths, is coming to like it and like it very much.
The scale of the achievement and the general sense of relief allowed for a week of political generosity and spaciousness. Tributes were paid not just to Bertie Ahern and his team but to those who had ploughed in the past what was often a long and lonely furrow and without whom the agreement would not have been possible. Contributions were thoughtful and reflective, with little, if any, point-scoring and a general sense that this was a problem bigger than any of us.
There were a few moments this week, however, which did worry Drapier somewhat. The very speed with which we were asked to dispatch a series of major constitutional amendments caused some unease, especially since we knew that changes were not easily possible, given the time constraints of having to have the referendum in place for May 22nd.
That meant that no matter what happened it had to be out of both Houses by midnight on Wednesday. John Bruton raised the spectre of a court challenge down the line, such as happened after Sunningdale and which, given the nature of our Constitution, could effectively tie the hands of a future government at a crucial time. Indeed Bruton, in a forensic speech, raised a number of such possibilities.
He may be right or wrong, but what he was doing was providing the sort of detailed scrutiny expected of us as parliamentarians. On this occasion the overwhelming national interest seemed to dictate a scrupulous adherence to the Good Friday timetable.
In the event, Bruton did his job and did it well, and Drapier can only hope that his worries will prove to be unfounded. But it was a slightly worrying footnote to an otherwise very upbeat week.
There was a sense, too, that many in here would be happier to see the Northern question given the chance to work itself out, that what is needed is space, especially for the voters to see the full potential of the agreement, to ponder the absence of workable alternatives and perhaps to look into the abyss that failure would open up.
In some ways the speech of Harry Blaney on Wednesday was significant. He would support the agreement, give it a chance, and the fact that this was done after consultation with his own "green" element was a clear indication of the way grassroots feeling is moving.
The only uncomfortable person in here was Caoimhgh in O Caolain. Sitting on the fence is never that easy, and all the warm words for Gerry Adams could not disguise the fact that there was also a thinly veiled message that since politicians in here and elsewhere have run risks to bring Adams in from the cold, Sinn Fein will have to make up its mind, and there can be no casuistry about a Yes in the North and a No in the Republic. Drapier is certain that this divided-vote kite won't fly.
In a way it was something of a relief to get back to normal politics, and Jim Mitchell brought into the open and with passion an issue Drapier referred to last weekend, the leaking of Foreign Affairs files during the presidential campaign and the subsequent public arrest of a Fine Gael activist, an arrest attended by maximum media publicity based on widespread leaking, and all happening just two days before the presidential election.
There were some at the time who were disquieted, not least by the public leaking of the name of someone against whom no charge was made then, or has been made in the six months since.
It now appears, at least from the talk in the corridors, that no charge will be made.
Mitchell is one of the most dogged people Drapier knows, and judging by his very obvious anger on Thursday he will have more to say on this issue. If he can stand up his charges it could all prove very uncomfortable for the Minister indicated by Mitchell but not yet named. This one will run and run.
Meanwhile, a nice little situation is emerging in the Upper House to fill the vacancy caused by Sean Ryan's election to the Dail. It will be a curious election as in this case there are only two nominating bodies, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Conference of Professional and Service Associations.
It looks as if the Labour Party will secure the ICTU nomination for Sam McAughtry and, if so, he will have the support of Fine Gael, Democratic Left and probably most of the university senators. Sam made a good impression in the last Seanad, and given the current mood most would welcome another Northern voice, especially one coming from the unionist side of the divide.
Fianna Fail, however, will almost certainly seek to get a nomination for its candidate (who has yet to emerge) from the ICPSA. But given the strength of the Garda bodies in that organisation a Fianna Fail endorsement is by no means a certainty, though Drapier thinks it likely.
On paper the Fianna Fail candidate will be a racing certainty. The Government vote in both Houses is 114; the opposition have 111, and that includes all the Independents. But there is one fact which is less than certain, and that is the role the PDs will play. Remember in Limerick East and Dublin North the PDs declined to enter a voting pact with Fianna F ail, and there is no inevitability that they will now do otherwise.
As Drapier said, the Fianna Fail candidate has yet to emerge and then get a nomination. But should the PDs be faced with a choice between a run-of-the-mill Fianna Fail councillor and a Northern voice closer in many ways to their own views on the North, there may be no inevitability.
The PDs have come in for much criticism from their own ranks about submerging their identity with Fianna Fail and in particular for the Seanad voting pact which delivered a block PD vote to Fianna Fail candidates in the last election. Given the Government's existing Seanad majority of eight, there may well be a call for an independent line on this issue, especially if a candidate of McAughtry's calibre is on offer.