Yesterday, Cabinet held its last meeting until September; and on Thursday there was a celebration of four years in office over dinner in Farmleigh, the old Guinness place in Dublin's Phoenix Park opened officially. Next week practically the entire Government will be heading to the Galway Races. The August break is truly here.
They may as well enjoy the holidays. As soon as ministers return full time to their desks in September, and long before the Dβil resumes on October 3rd, they will have a lot to deal with and any slip-up in the run into the general election could be fatal. Most important of all is the budget on December 5th. There is also the Forum for Europe, not as simple as originally seemed, and how to gradually convince the electorate that Nice is good. In addition there is the everlasting question of abortion; the increasing discontent in the healthcare and education fields, including disability provisions following the Sinnott case; the changeover to the euro on January 1st and the confusion, overcharging, inflation and everything else that will bring; and, something that all parties face: planning for the general election.
To help in all this, there are a number of gatherings. The FF parliamentary party will hold a two-day think-in in Ennis in mid-September followed by the Ard Fheis, postponed from February because of foot-and-mouth, in Dublin on October 12th and 13th. Fine Gael is holding two regional conferences in the autumn and are planning an Ard Fheis for February. Labour hold its rescheduled conference on the last weekend in September. It's in City Hall Cork, to boost the party's determination to regain the three seats it lost in the county at the last election. The PD party is planning a conference in February.
The Government will be inundated with pressure groups, not just the anti-abortion independents, who know the vulnerability of an administration whose time is coming to an end, but teachers, parents, health workers, transport workers and the anti-Bertie Bowl lobby will all be agitating. Then there's the growing unease in all parties at the rise of the fringes - Shinners, Greens and single-issue candidates. The list of troubles is endless.
Apart from its record, on everything from the North to the economy, which will be greatly promoted, one plus for the FF/PD coalition is that the tax year moves from April to January, so the tax changes and social welfare increases will come into effect in February, doubling many benefits. Bertie Ahern won't go to the country before then and that seems to be the view of the PDs, too.