It was a quiet week in here but none the worse for that. In fact, it was the sort of week when a lot of useful work got done, starting with the Government's acceptance of Alan Shatter's Private Member's Bill, which will grant immunity to people who report child sex abuse.
It was all relevant in a week of further scandals, in particular in the context of the nightmare scenario that unfolded in court about the failure of the Irish Amateur Swimming Association to behave in even a minimally responsible way.
Jim McDaid did what he could in the circumstances, but in Drapier's view the problem is so big and the existing legislation so piecemeal that we need a serious and urgent examination of the issues involved as a prelude to the badly needed comprehensive legislative package.
But it goes much further than legislation. It is essentially about resources, and that, in part, is why Drapier welcomes Alan Shatter's Bill. The truth of the matter is that we have treated our child-care agencies and the childcare section of the public service appallingly over the years, starving them of resources and recognition, consistently shoving them down the priority list.
Alan Shatter's Bill, among other things, gives the initiative back to the Dail, an initiative which, if past experience is any guide, would have died a death if left in the maw of our bureaucracy. His Bill reflects the public mood of disquiet and disgust and of a need for action.
The Bill itself is modest, but the reaction to it should convince the Government that this must be a priority area for many years to come, and from what Drapier hears from colleagues, solicitors,
the Garda and social workers we haven't seen anything yet. Indeed Mick Lanigan, in an eloquent contribution to the Seanad on Wednesday, highlighted vividly the extent of the problem in his area.
All of this convinces Drapier that a piecemeal approach will no longer suffice. The purse-strings will have to be untied and a rootand-branch approach adopted.
The Government was right to accept Alan Shatter's Bill, even if Brian Cowen felt it necessary to talk about "flaws which the Government will address at Committee Stage". That's the usual old guff which every government trots out when a Private Member's Bill appears and, indeed, if previous Private Member's Bills are anything to go by, Alan Shatter's Bill is likely to be no less flawed than much of the establishment legislation that took years to gestate and ended up in the courts.
In Drapier's view, the more Private Members' Bills there are the better. Drapier has never accepted that the government should have a monopoly in initiating legislation, that not all wisdom lies on one side of the House or around the cabinet table.
The strengths of Private Members' Bills are that legislation, which might otherwise have been drowned at birth by inter-departmental wrangling, can find its way in a readily acceptable way on to the floor of the House speedily and thence on to the statute books. The skies do not necessarily fall in when opposition parties take seriously their role as legislators and not just scrutineers of government proposals.
Alan Shatter has been a trendsetter in this area, perhaps a reason he is one of the best members of either House.
Next to a spot of housekeeping. Drapier always felt there was an air of unreality and of the academic didacticism about parts of the Electoral Bill. He remembers in particular the stonewalling tactics of his good friend Ger Connolly in opposing the Bill tooth and nail over a long period, at a time when many others who knew in their hearts that Ger was right were afraid to appear politically incorrect by joining in support.
Well, Ger was right. Large parts of the Act are unworkable. And we are not the only people saying so. The Public Offices Commissioner says so. And Drapier has to say in passing that nobody in here has found the Commission other than sensible and sensitive in its handling of the issues.
It was we who made the law, and it is the Commission's job to carry it out. In this case, the problem is that the law is an ass, particularly so when expensive legal advice advocates the strictest possible interpretation.
We are now in the situation where every clinic Drapier advertises in his local paper, every literature drop Drapier does in his constituency, every raffle he supports from now up to the election - whenever it comes - can be reckoned as an election expense. Not just that, every penny raised by his local party organisation can count towards the maximum he can spend at an election.
It's nonsensical stuff, and the making of a bureaucratic nightmare. We will soon be at the stage where every local cumann or branch will need to elect, or more probably have to pay, for the services of an accountant to deal with its affairs.
Drapier has no problems with the principles of the legislation. The time has come to cry halt to some of the crazy sums spent on election campaigns; the time has come for genuine accountability.
The time has come, too, for the State to recognise that party politics is not an optional extra in our democratic system but is, as the great English political writer, Walter Bagehot, said more than 100 years ago: "Political parties are the essence of parliament; the system could not work without them." And the time has come for the State to recognise this central fact and act accordingly.
No. Drapier has no problem with the principle of the Act and like most of his colleagues has never been burdened with the problem of having too much money to spend at election time. Drapier, like many others in here, spent most of the 1980s mortgaged to the hilt, paying off the costs of five general elections fought over an eight-year period.
The problem is that much of the present Act was driven by ideology rather than common sense. That is why Drapier welcomes the fact that all parties are sitting down together to try to get it right. There will be no going back to the old days, but this time let's come up with something simple, workable and accountable.
And a few final thoughts this week. Bertie Ahern is not over the moon about the European Commission's declaration that we will have water charges whether we want them or not. Not exactly helpful in a tight by-election especially when we all thought the issue was dead. Only Joe Higgins is smiling.
And then Army deafness. The situation is out of control, as Jim Mitchell's committee showed so vividly this week. On present estimates the £3 to £4 billion now spoken about could halt social progress for the best part of a decade. It's time to shout stop. And this time, let's hope those responsible hear what's being said.