Maybe in this coming millennium we will discover why it was that Bertie Ahern sent Dermot Ahern to London in June 1997 to find out from Joseph Murphy jnr of JMSE what Bertie Ahern already knew: whether JMSE had given money to Ray Burke in June 1987.

Maybe we will be told why he did not tell his sleuth this information before the visit was made. Maybe we will find out why, again, he did not tell Dermot Ahern about what he knew before a second meeting took place between Dermot Ahern and Joseph Murphy jnr a few days later in Fitzers Cafe in Dawson Street, Dublin; whether Dermot Ahern later asked Bertie why he (Bertie) was making a patsy of him (Dermot) by sending him on these wild-goose chases and, if so, what Bertie said and, if not, why not?

And if we get answers to these questions, we might then begin to understand how it is that the president of the Fianna Fail party, Bertie Ahern, the vice-presidents, David Andrews, Gerard Collins, Sile de Valera, John Wilson and Michael Woods, the honorary secretaries, Mary Coughlan and Gene Fitzgerald, and the treasurers, Noel Dempsey and Mary Hanafin, are apparently so unconcerned about the very considerable monies that appear to have been deflected from the party coffers over the last decade and a half.

We knew that Ray Burke got £30,000 from Fitzwilton in June 1989, purportedly as a donation to Fianna Fail, and failed to pass on the full amount to the party. We know that Padraig Flynn got £50,000 from Tom Gilmartin in 1989, also purportedly for the party, but failed to pass that on.

We know that Charles Haughey diverted monies from the Leader's Allowance in the 1980s, monies intended for the use and benefit of the party, to his own personal use.

While the excuse might be made (quite implausibly) that as these matters are the subject of inquiry by tribunals, the party cannot make its own inquiries, these revelations raise the possibility that perhaps other monies intended for the party since, say, 1987, were diverted to the use of particular individuals within the party.

Wouldn't it be difficult to believe that the only monies that were diverted were the Fitzwilton and Gilmartin donations and the leader's allowance? Is it not possible that perhaps other monies went astray also?

The dogs, cats and rats on the street know that Fianna Fail got massive amounts of money from business people in the late Eighties (especially during the 1987 and 1989 election campaigns), but in spite of these huge donations the party remained strapped for cash.

What happened these massive amounts? How is it that Fianna Fail does not seem to want to know the extent to which it was robbed, or want the money back?

What conclusions from all of this will people in 1,000 years time be drawing? There are people who could enlighten all the generations to come over the next millennium on this question. These are Paul Kavanagh, Des Richardson, Sean Fleming, Sean Sherwin, Frank Wall and Pat Farrell (the first two party fund-raisers, the middle two party officers and latter two past general secretaries of Fianna Fail).

They owe it to the Fianna Fail generations of the next millennium to tell all they know. If they do, they will be remembered for 1,000 years.

Fine Gael could do a similar service to posterity: tell us how it was that in late 1994 it was broke and within a year, having fallen into government, its financial problems were solved at a stroke. What happened, how was it done?

If, perchance, answers to the questions about Fianna Fail monies were to emerge in the course of the first year of the new millennium, there might be certain disturbances in the government partnership which could result in a consultation with the people, followed by some other form of government partnership.

But it is unlikely that there will be any such disturbance before a few issues arise, the first being perhaps the most important decision to be taken by any government in many years. It is one that will be taken in secret. There will be no public debate on it, the Dail will never debate the decision, nor will any Oireachtas committee inquire into it.

It will be on the appointment of four Supreme Court judges to fill the vacancies that arise from the retirement recently of Mr Justice Kevin Lynch and the imminent retirements of Mr Justices Liam Hamilton, Donal Barrington and Henry Barron.

The decision on the new appointments, including that of a new Chief Justice, will shape the nature of the Supreme Court in a way that no decision taken by any government did since the Supreme Court was established in 1923. This is simply because half the judges on the court are going in one fell swoop.

The Supreme Court is the most powerful institution in the State and, in reality, it is accountable to no one. It determines the nature, scope and balance of individual rights. It decides matters literally of life and death.

And yet, appointments to the Supreme Court are taken almost casually by a small coterie of government insiders - this time probably only by Bertie Ahern, Mary Harney, John O'Donoghue and, maybe, Michael McDowell.

They will not be able to understand this in 1,000 years time. They might also fail to understand how Charlie McCreevy did not bow out gracefully (or be required to do so) following the debacle of his budget, to permit someone else to start all over.

They also might have trouble in comprehending how it is that the IRA, which acquired arms to advance a political cause (i.e., the unity of Ireland), now refuses to get rid of arms to advance what it claims amounts to the same political cause (the implementation of the Belfast Agreement).

And try explaining to them the controversy over abortion: everyone (almost everyone) is agreed that there can be no abortion in Ireland, although the right to travel abroad for an abortion is a matter of fundamental principle; everyone is agreed that there should be an equal right to life on the part of the mother and on the part of the unborn child; this equal right to life is enshrined in our Constitution; a large segment of those who believe in an equal right to life want to change this part of the Constitution.

And just think of the hash that history will make of all this.

Vincent Browne can be contacted at vbrowne@irish-times.ie