DRAPIER: Bertie Ahern couldn't wait to get out of the Dáil. Rumours put out by the Government after the Cabinet was selected that the House would sit for a further week were unfounded. For once most members of the new Dáil, ritual protests to the contrary notwithstanding, are in private agreement with the Taoiseach. Colleagues on all sides are exhausted after an extraordinary general election and after an election campaign that had ground on relentlessly since the first week in January.
Bertie Ahern loves being Taoiseach but dislikes being tied down in the Chamber. Despite the shocking report imminent on the Ansbacher deposits, he managed to escape without giving a hard commitment to reconvene the Dáil. If the Opposition demand the recall of the Dáil then it can be recalled, but only for a day. Is the insinuation that when the Opposition see the report, they might have second thoughts? Ruairí Quinn was quick to put that one to bed when responding to Mary Harney taking the Order of Business in the absence of the Taoiseach. After three years' work and significant expenditure is one day the best that the Government can offer? It says a lot about the Taoiseach's view of the role of the Dáil.
It says even more about how acquiescent Mary Harney and Michael McDowell have become. Start as you hope to continue. How can Harney, who has earned so much kudos for pursuing the Ansbacher issue, settle for a one-day set-piece exchange of scripts in Dáil Eireann on the results of her work? Imagine the fireworks that McDowell would cause in Opposition if a government, any government, tried to demonstrate such contempt for parliament.
So orchestrated is everything in the Fianna Fáil-dominant element of the new Government that even the terms of the September debate on the Nice referendum were decided on Thursday.
In other words, we can't avoid having to recall the Dáil because the Constitution requires it. But we can order the business in advance in such a way that topical matters cannot be raised.
In this context of the Taoiseach's dislike for Dáil exchanges, it is noteworthy that Mary Hanafin has let it be known that the Government may be willing to go some way towards facilitating more time for the smaller parties provided Fine Gael and Labour agree to a Dáil reform package involving less time in the Chamber for the Taoiseach.
Apart from his natural inclination to avoid the adversarial parliamentary environment, Bertie Ahern was glad to see the back of his own backbenchers this week. Observers were surprised at the depth of unrest within Fianna Fáil concerning the composition of the Cabinet and Ministers of State. There is no little irony that it was the Taoiseach himself who raised expectations.
Somewhere along the line his innate caution reasserted itself, and only three new faces emerged in a line-up of almost 30 Fianna Fáil Ministers. Some oldtimers were recalling parallels with Jack Lynch's overall majority of 1977. The muttering has certainly started, and those around the Taoiseach have responded by hinting at a major reshuffle in about two years.
That seems a typical Ahern ruse to many younger ambitious deputies. Live horse and you will get grass. What is the point in sacking people from Cabinet and then reappointing them to junior ministerial posts?
For example, how must Tony Killeen have been feeling as he watched his constituency colleague Síle de Valera being removed from Cabinet only to be reappointed a junior Minister? He is not the only one.
Taken collectively the junior Ministers look tired and uninspiring. Watching the return of Pat "the Cope" Gallagher, Liam Alyward, John Brown and the reappointment of Noel Treacy, Eoin Ryan must wonder what he did wrong.
It seemed fanciful in 1977 to speculate that Jack Lynch would be gone in two years. Ahern is seen to enjoy a similarly dominant position in 2002, but his conservatism in his ministerial selections may yet prove the beginning of his downfall. For this reason he will agonise long and hard over his choice of deputy leader.
Meanwhile, battle has again been joined on the Nice Treaty. All the signs are that Fianna Fáil fully understands that, whatever about the country, the consequences of another defeat would be disastrous for the Government.
At first glance the wording of the amendment is clever, bringing on board both Fine Gael and Labour. Since the wording on defence commitments is so close to the Labour Party's own version, it can scarcely refrain from campaigning for a Yes vote.
Brian Cowen will also be aware that his reputation is on the line, having escaped relatively unscathed last time. But to lose two referendums would indeed be careless. Cowen was struggling to keep his natural disposition under control as he took questions from John Gormley, but it is clear that he has concluded there is nothing he can do that will dissuade the Greens or Sinn Féin from mining a rich vein of dissent.
With Labour likely to come out in favour, the smaller parties can't believe their luck and they will not allow the facts to confuse them.
The Seanad elections are in full swing in a week which saw the retirement of Maurice Manning after he lost out in the internal selection process. Yet he has been one of the most distinguished, capable and accomplished members of the upper House.