IT wasn't just the Government parties which circled the wagons, as the latest fiasco at the Department of Justice caused citizens to shake their befuddled heads and wonder at the incompetence of it all. The Association of Higher Civil Servants erected defences too; pleading overwork and lack of resources as valid reasons for a breakdown in the administrative system.
Coming from the most secretive department in Government, which has refused to shed any of its responsibilities in the interests of much needed reform, it was rich indeed. Officials, under pressure of investigation, felt it had "got to the point where it is virtually impossible to provide a service that they can stand over to any Minister".
The golden rule in Irish politics is: "Never resign." And civil servants don't relish a future where their jobs might not be both permanent and pensionable. The buck has rarely, if ever, stopped on their desks.
In this instance, failure to formally delist a Special Criminal Court judge had led to 16 high security prisoners being unlawfully detained in custody. There was a double failure at the Department of Justice. And there is a possibility that the debacle may yet permit those 16 prisoners to walk free. Should that happen, a political noose will tighten around the Minister's neck.
NORA Owen accepted political responsibility for this "very serious error" in the Dail on Thursday. But it was a heavily qualified responsibility; one which did not require her own resignation. And she promised a full inquiry into why and where the system had failed.
An outsider - God bless the mark - would be brought within the paranoid portals of the Department of Justice to investigate what precisely had gone wrong. It was clearly intended as a band aid exercise; dealing with the past, rather than addressing the future. The Department, encumbered by decades of neglect and reform failures, would continue to plough blindly on into the night.
Support for Mrs Owen as "one of the most able, hard working and personable Ministers we have ever had the privilege to work with" from the Association of Higher Civil Servants, is not as impartial a commendation as it may seem. Under the Ministers and Secretaries Act, she is held responsible for the actions of civil servants within her Department. But, traditionally, neither Ministers nor offending officials are brought to account. It represents power without responsibility for the "permanent government".
The Government wants to change this comfortable system. Under its plan, Ministers will be responsible for matters of policy but civil servants will become accountable for administrative actions. The AHCS is fighting a rearguard action on this it prefers the status quo. In such circumstances, and seeking solidarity in adversity for its members, support for the Minister was a small price to pay.
John Bruton believed the latest shambles wasn't a resigning matter. And, he told journalists, if Mrs Owen tendered her resignation, he would not accept it. He was upping the ante into a vote of confidence in the Government. Now there's solidarity for ya.
Within Government, there is high praise for the role the embattled Minister played in the Northern Ireland talks process over the past few months. As the multi party talks ground on, she and her officials travelled to Belfast for three, and even four, days a week. That strenuous involvement may explain why the Departmental shop wasn't being properly minded in Dublin.
With both the Government and Civil Service determined to bury the controversy, the opposition parties have real problems. But a political controversy isn't over until the Ceann Comhairle declares it dead in the Dail. And next week offers Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats rich pickings as they explore the roles of Dermot Gleeson and Nora Owen in the affair under the banner of a "no confidence" motion.
In that regard, the strange four day delay in the delivery of Mr Gleeson's second warning letter to the Department of Justice has not been explained. It has been suggested the delay, from Friday to Tuesday, was caused by the Bank Holiday. But the Bank Holiday fell in the previous week. Curious and curiouser.
If the Dail has been shocked by the sheer incompetence displayed by one of the most important Government Departments, our nearest neighbours are totally incredulous. But a source of public ridicule today may become a matter of blazing British anger tomorrow if high security prisoners are freed by the courts on a technicality. Such a development would have repercussions which would directly affect the Minister, the Government and the date for a general election.
FINE Gael has just endured a disastrous three weeks. At the end of September, John Bruton was flying high and Fianna Fail was in the doldrums, wondering if it could win enough seats to enter government with the Progressive Democrat Then Michael Noonan enraged the women of the country with his handling of the hepatitis C scandal. He was quickly followed by Ivan Yates the Minister for Agriculture misled the Dail over the signing of a Russian beef contract and angered farmers by agreeing to the exclusion of Cork, Tipperary and Monaghan. And last week, he was again in trouble over antibiotic residues in pig meat.
Just as Fine Gael felt it was safe to discuss the timing of a 1997 general election with Labour and Democratic Left, Nora Owen dropped them in it - again. Accident prone is a kind description for this Minister who, in two short years, has been in and out of more trouble than half the Cabinet. After the murder of Veronica Guerin in June, she sharpened up her act with the rapid passage of six major pieces of anti drugs legislation. For the first time in years, criminals and drug dealers came under real pressure and public confidence in the system of law and order began to recover.
The seriousness of the current fiasco, in political terms, will be dictated by what eventually happens to the 16 high security prisoners. But the failure of the administrative system in the Department of Justice is of enduring importance. It demands root and branch reform which is unlikely to come this side of a general election.
Last Wednesday, Fianna Fail was convinced the Government would hold a snap election in February/March and the Coalition parties were acting coy. This debacle, with its unpredictable consequences, will force a re think all around.
