The LULL after the storm. As Captain Bertie and first mate Harney survey the battered ship of State they will at least be pleased that they avoided shipwreck. They will know that they themselves are responsible for steering into choppy waters but what a relief when dry land was sighted in the form of an earlier than customary recess. The wags in here predict that not only did Bertie contrive to rise earlier than usual but that the OPW will be encouraged to discover valid reasons why the House must return later than usual. This jibe is unfair only to the OPW.
Even though neither party wanted to face the electorate after Tipperary South, the Coalition would have found it difficult to survive another week of parliamentary accountability. The same parliamentary accountability had its own success when Jim Mitchell's Public Accounts sub-committee claimed its first trophy in the shape of the Bank of Ireland. "Will anything ever come out of those tribunals?" may be the catchcry on the street but already £30 million has been retrieved from one bank. Altogether there were 37 financial institutions involved in the bogus non-resident account racket.
The Bank of Ireland was not the worst offender and presented itself before the DIRT inquiry as being only peripherally involved. Well, £30 million is not peripheral and shows that even the high-minded leadership at board and executive level of the Bank of Ireland was prepared to turn a blind eye when competition required it to do so. It is a tribute to the depth of analysis carried out by the parliamentarians that they did not allow themselves to be fobbed off by the sophisticated self-exoneration by the bankers. So take a bow Jim Mitchell, Pat Rabbitte, Sean Doherty, Bernard Duncan and Sean Ardagh.
It is the first tribunal to return a profit for the Exchequer. Whereas Drapier agrees that a balance-sheet approach cannot be taken to these matters, the effectiveness of the DIRT sub-committee augurs well for the future role of parliamentary inquiry where the subject matter is not party political. Obviously tens of millions more are on the way to Charlie McCreevy's burgeoning coffers and the fun only really starts when and if the Revenue gets around to the actual accountholders. That will test the political culture and Jim Mitchell and his fellow inquisitors may find they are not so popular after all.
As Mary Harney seeks to rebuild her image, she is scheduled to appear before the same Public Accounts Committee next week to report on the findings of the review of the auditing profession chaired by Senator Joe O'Toole. Auditors came very poorly out of the DIRT inquiry as they did out of most inquiries since Goodman. The profession will no doubt await Mr O'Toole's conclusions with a little trepidation. Will the profession lose self-regulation? We shall wait and see.
The beleaguered Tanaiste started the week and her own renovation by publishing tough new legislation to enforce company law. This is the territory on which Harney is happiest - preaching probity to business and threatening dire consequences if it doesn't mend its ways. Both Labour and Fine Gael are beginning to doubt that we will ever see in the public domain the findings of some of the investigations she has initiated. She foolishly promised full transparency in the first flush of her ministry but has now begun to retreat somewhat behind the legislative impediments. It is time we began to see results.
Harney shipped some heavy criticism in the confidence debate with John Bruton, Ruairi Quinn, Michael Noonan and others focusing on her failure to ride shotgun on Fianna Fail. There is no doubt that recent events have damaged her ability to shout stop. As Bertie's forgetfulness returned at Dublin Castle there was not a murmur from Harney. Having reportedly offered her resignation, she is scarcely in a strong position to query Fianna Fail's lack of interest in tracing the missing donations. Ray Burke's return to Dublin Castle must only beguile the Tanaiste further, with various statements by the Taoiseach. Hear no evil, see no evil is central to Bertie-speak. If someone insists on telling the Taoiseach something, he may or may not hear it but he certainly won't ask the obvious question.
His namesake, Dermot Ahern, first promoted by Haughey, also seems averse to asking questions. Why on earth does Dermot Ahern think he was sent to London? Better not ask. But it's a bit surreal that Burke admitted getting money and Bertie knew he got the money but the donor claimed he didn't give him any money and Dermot Ahern believed the donor. For Mary Harney, who served in the Cabinet with Burke, the uncomfortable fact is that Mr Haughey is not to blame. This happened on Bertie's watch. Harney could yet recover from the Haughey debacle if the High Court moderates the Haugh judgment. But she will not recover from the O'Flaherty misjudgment and claiming the people would soon forget only compounded that misjudgment.
Meanwhile it is a case of locking the door after the horse has bolted, with Tom Kitt making a price-fixing order that does not predate the latest round of increases in the pub trade. The only merit of a maximum prices order, as against greater competition, was that publicans would be obliged to roll back increases, thus helping to contain inflation.
Times have changed in here when the Archbishop of Dublin's appearance at the Committee on the Constitution scarcely raised an eyebrow. Dr Desmond Connell threw his weight behind the pro-referendum campaign without suggesting a formula of words that would avoid former disasters. Some things change and some things don't.