DRAPIER: The Dáil reconvenes on Wednesday after a period of disruption and unrest in the public services and widespread public anger at the failure of this complacent Government to manage our affairs.
Yes, I know that this is the line that Opposition colleagues will give, but this time they may have a point.
Drapier had to smile at the orchestrated Mexican wave of Government intervention when the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance rode into Government Buildings to present the social partners with an offer they couldn't refuse.
At least that was the game plan of the Taoiseach's handlers. This time he was flying back from Lanzarote without tabloid photographs of himself and Celia sunning themselves.
Instead, with the election behind him, we had the image of Political Action Man back from Spain on his way to Mexico and fixing a deal in between.
Despite the endorsement by that reliable Government supporter Senator Joe O'Toole, the social partners are not happy. The agreement may not take off because binding arbitration may be a bridge too far for Congress and 7 per cent over 18 months may be too much for our increasingly uncompetitive private sector.
Whatever the outcome, the image of the Taoiseach stranded in front of a stalled Government jet in Mexico City was a potent omen for some of my Fianna Fáil backbencher colleagues.
Talk has commenced again as to whether Bertie will lead the Soldiers of Destiny into the next general election. Despite his electoral abilities, he cannot take hard decisions or manage the public services. The questions are now about his exit choices.
The Phoenix Park, the Commission in Brussels or the Dáil backbenches have been mentioned.
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And how about John Perry? Drapier wonders how could any politically-literate member of the Fine Gael parliamentary party arrange for a republican folk group to entertain Liam Cosgrave's conservative nationalist party in the Shelbourne Hotel.
Enda Kenny will have been reminded of the hard lesson learned by John Bruton from his misappreciation of Michael Lowry that an ability to raise money does not necessarily go hand in hand with political acumen. Kevin Myers may have gone over the top, but many of the articulate Fine Gael supporters think that John Perry went too far.
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The ideological admirers of Tánaiste Mary Harney must have been bemused by her response to her native Ballinasloe which was devastated by the loss of 385 jobs at the Square D plant, a jewel in the ageing crown of the IDA.
Alongside a commitment to do her best to find jobs for the redundant workers, many with 20 years service, she talked about allocating a Government department as part of decentralisation to compensate the town for its loss.
Never mind the redundant workers who would not be the beneficiaries, Drapier wonders is this the Progressive Democrat leader who promised to get rid of 25,000 public service jobs in the 1997 general election.
Perhaps she is articulating what she has been briefed by her department. The days of successful new job-creation, led by the IDA, with foreign direct investment, primarily from the United States, are effectively over. The US economy is on hold. 9/11 makes foreign direct investment uncertain. There is more competition in the field and Ireland's comparative costs are not competitive.
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Labour Leader Pat Rabbitte has lost little time in putting his own stamp on the party. The comrades decanted to Killashee House Hotel in Kildare for an overnight "think-in" this week in preparation for the coming parliamentary session.
I am told that the mood was good because they are now confident that the next opinion poll will be good for Pat and Labour and not so good for Enda Kenny and Fine Gael.
The new leadership of Rabbitte and Liz McManus has settled down to a good relationship with Mike Allen, general secretary, and Pat Magner, national organiser.
However, Fergus Finlay, master guru from the glory days of Spring's leadership, is somewhat bemused by the level of resources and professionalism that now surrounds the party.
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There was standing room only at the Institute of European Affairs last week to hear Foreign Minister Brian Cowen outline the Government's official position on the shape of the draft European Constitutional settlement emerging from the Convention on the Future of Europe, currently meeting in Brussels.
Drapier has been told that Biffo did himself a power of good with the Euro-groupies of all parties. Not because of his speech, which was cautious and typically uncommittal, as you would expect from Iveagh House, but because of the fluency of his replies and his command of the complex subject matter. There was talk afterwards about how Bertie would have been out of his depth in replying to the questions from the floor.
Cowen has grown in stature since his days in "Angola", his own description for the Department of Health, which was in, and remains in, a state of crisis management.
He is well placed now to go for the really "big job" if the nervous Fianna Fáil backbenchers emulate their predecessors of 24 years ago and force Bertie to move on like they did Jack Lynch.
The economic problems confronting Charlie McCreevy and the continued chaos in the health service under Micheál Martin leave Cowen with a clear field. But then, in politics, there never really is a clear field.
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The end of the dual mandate is hurting many colleagues in all parties. Drapier hears that the Independents in particular are quite unhappy.
In addition, to being effectively marginalised at national political level, they now have to cope with the arrival of ambitious curates in their own parishes.