It's hard to think this Dail is not yet nine months old and we have lost two of our very finest. First Jim Kemmy, snatched from us in so untimely a fashion, and now that noble soul Hugh Coveney, a man without enemies, a man whose creed was of old-fashioned public service, a man who gave politics a good name.
Hugh Coveney enriched politics. We were all the better for knowing him. As Peter Barry said, there was not a crooked sinew in Hugh Coveney, but sadly for him he expected of others the same high standards of integrity he asked of himself. Sometimes he trusted too readily, believed people too easily and at times he paid a price.
Hugh Coveney had great character, none more so than when he could have left politics in disgust, walked away to an easier, more comfortable life. It would have been understandable, but Hugh Coveney hid his hurt and disappointment, buckled down and with great style became the outstanding minister of state of John Bruton's administration.
Hugh brought a great sense of professionalism and his habitual striving after excellence to politics. As his son, Patrick Coveney, said in his moving tribute at the funeral Mass, Hugh could see the big picture but he revelled in his mastery of the detail. His approach to problems was methodical, scientific and reasonable. He was as well informed as the civil servants or interest groups with whom he was dealing, but was always willing to listen and he saw problems as matters to be resolved rather than provoked into conflict.
He was probably the only minister for the marine ever who had the genuine trust of the fishermen. Later he was a driving force behind the accelerated prison building programme, but most of all he excelled in the discussions with the Northern parties involved in the peace process, as David Andrews was so quick to acknowledge.
There was no guile, no double dealing. What you saw was what you got and it gave him a great basis as a negotiator. His death is a particularly grievous blow to John Bruton. Bruton depended on and trusted Hugh Coveney as perhaps no other. Hugh would always tell it as it was, his political judgemnt was unburdened with historical baggage, unscarred by old scores. He wasn't interested in personality clashes or the sort of political point-scoring we all too readily resort to. Next week we will all pay our formal tributes in the Dail and Seanad. But already the spontaneous outpouring of grief and pride tell their own story. The all-party guard of honour outside St Michael's Church on Wednesday afternoon was unique in Drapier's experience.
Generally, political parties look after their own, even in death, but Hugh's guard of honour, with Mary O'Rourke side by side with Phil Hogan, Proinsias De Rossa beside Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald across from Brendan Ryan, Ruairi Quinn and John Bruton leading us all, Des O'Malley alongside Avril Doyle, Feargal Quinn, Donal Carey, Adi Roche, Mary Banotti . . . and so it went, and in its own way spoke its own eloquent tribute. Only Hugh Coveney could prove such a unifying force.
Something good, something noble has gone from all of us, but if our loss is great, as it is, how much greater the loss to Pauline and his family. But at least they have the pride and the memory of a good man.
Hugh Coveney's death overshadowed all else, but other things were happening, some of them with perhaps ominous portents for the future. Nobody now is talking much of instability or of the Government collapsing or running to the country. That was talk for the chattering classes in the immediate aftermath of the by-elections but in truth little enough was heard of it in here.
Drapier will leave for later the whole question of the cuts in Euro funds which are ominous and instead consider the forthcoming tribunals.
Mr Justice Feargus Flood has made clear his impatience to get on with the business in hand and he gives the impression of a man with some substantial, maybe even juicy, information under his belt. Drapier, like all his colleagues, got an importantlooking document this week from the solicitor to the tribunal, telling him that along with all others he will be getting a letter "in relation to the matters which the tribunal has been mandated to examine". Drapier can't wait, since along with the vast majority of his colleagues he has never been near north Dublin, apart from the odd trip to the airport, so he wonders about the purpose of this new trawling exercise. Does it mean the tribunal is desperate for information, or does it mean some sort of double check is under way?
Drapier finds it all very puzzling. It's hard to see the point of questioning deputies and senators from Mayo, Donegal or Kerry about events in north Dublin with which they could not possibly have had any involvement. Surely by now the tribunal knows the names of the people it wants to question, and the whole exercise strikes Drapier as pointless, and more than that, a waste of time and public money.
Drapier might as well tell the tribunal here and now that he cannot be of any help. Still, as Drapier has said before, tribunals have a way of taking on a life of their own, disappointing in the case of the beef tribunal, devastatingly effective in the case of McCracken. So it may well be with Flood, and if it goes the way Drapier feels it may, the consequences could be severely destabilising. But that at this stage is no more than a hunch.
Also this week we had more Fianna Fail rumblings about Articles 2 and 3, with Liam Aylward and Seamus Kirk putting in their spoke on behalf of "stalwart party people with doubts". Drapier is not taking it too seriously at this stage. If there is an agreement on offer the Fianna Fail party will back Bertie Ahern, and back him fully.
The danger is that the campaign to "save" Articles 2 and 3, which is being stoked up, effectively and hysterically from outside, can generate the sort of noisy, if insubstantial, pressure which scares some of our colleagues. In a real way how he handles this - in other words, how he leads - is going to be Bertie Ahern's biggest test to date.
Drapier's advice to all his colleagues this weekend, especially the windy ones, is to hold tight and keep their counsel. A settlement in Northern Ireland is bigger than all of us and if ever there was a time for behaving in a calm and responsible way, it is now. Let us all listen to what the ordinary people are saying and forget the loud mouths.