On Tuesday there with smiles all round at the inauguration of the President. While the day may not have been as "mould-breaking" as seven years previously, it was, nonetheless, a day of some significance, particularly for Fianna Fail.
Their deputies could not conceal their smiles at Dublin Castle. This victory certainly has given them a massive shot in the arm. Up to this, John Bruton and Fine Gael had been extremely active and vocal but the ramifications of the Bruton/Adams intervention certainly have forced them to tone down their attacks on the Government.
During the first weeks of this Dail, they seemed to have decided that they would attack Bertie Ahern and the current Cabinet by linking them with former Taoiseach Charles Haughey. But Bruton and Co have obviously learned their lesson from the presidential election in that constant attacking is not really what the public wants to hear.
Mind you, the reverberations from the Foreign Affairs leaks are still present and Drapier hears that there may well be some significant developments soon.
But back to the great inauguration day. The President, Mrs McAleese, performed brilliantly and drew praise from even her most ardent critics. Mr Bruton seemed to be in tremendous form and his famous laugh was very much in evidence at the official functions. Drapier thinks it was nice to see Mary Banotti turn up at the inauguration but he was somewhat dismayed at the fact that the other candidates did not appear.
Drapier thought it took a lot of courage for John Alderdice to make an appearance, given his comments about President McAleese during the election.
Courageousness in the extreme (some would say hard neck) was also displayed by Mr Haughey, who put in an appearance for all of the events. Drapier did not meet him but by all accounts he appeared to be in good form despite his tribulations.
Drapier was looking out for Eoghan Harris and John Caden but he couldn't see them in the crowd. Surely, they would have received invitations, given the great assistance they gave to President McAleese's campaign. Despite some post-election revisionism, the fact is that but for their involvement in the campaign, Mrs McAleese's name might not have reached the dizzy heights it did in the media stakes.
It was also nice to see Jackie Healy-Rae back, hale and hearty, and enjoying the atmosphere.
Any readers who were peeved at the fact that they were not invited to the inaugural reception in Dublin Castle on Tuesday evening need not have been put out. The place was so crowded that the drink ran out almost immediately and the food was hard to get at. But there were a fair number of Northern accents to be heard and why not, seeing that it was their day.
There were more smiles during the week when the Government published its Estimates. Making the announcements, Charlie McCreevy could hardly keep a straight face and even when he came to lock horns with Ruairi Quinn on Thursday morning on the radio he was in the happy position of defending extra spending and yet potentially coming in with a Budget surplus.
Drapier would counsel caution on this in that experience tells that having too little or too much can leave a government vulnerable. The expectations at the moment are out of all proportion and Drapier is not sure that, even with the good Exchequer returns, Mr McCreevy can keep everyone happy. Some of the business groups have already been extremely critical of his spending plans.
A number of Drapier's colleagues noticed that the Estimates showed a reduction in spending on the Houses of the Oireachtas. One of the main topics of conversation these days around the corridors is salaries and the negative signal sent by the Estimates is suggesting to a lot of us that there may be no good news on this front.
Drapier would warn his Government colleagues that they would want to tread warily on this in that there is an ever-increasing angst on this problem. Drapier has heard that there have been some cross-party moves to try and bring this issue to a head.
Readers may say that Drapier has a vested interest in this subject and this may very well be true but the fact is - and this is the general view of all in here - that this matter needs to be addressed one way or another. Previous governments have refused to bite the bullet and it remains to be seen whether Mr McCreevy will.
On top of all this, we received a letter from the Moriarty tribunal this week, a tribunal set up to investigate issues relating to Mr Haughey and Michael Lowry. This letter was greeted with alarm when it was realised all recipients were being asked to divulge any payments over £500 received since 1986. We were ordered to respond within seven days of receipt of the letter.
Drapier wonders if the senders of these letters know what it is like to be an Oireachtas member. Drapier can safely say that not one member would be able to disclose (or even remember) back that far. Drapier also hears that some very elderly former members have received similar letters and are extremely annoyed and upset. It looks as if, in future, each of us may have to employ a full-time accountant but who will pay for it?
There were again more smiles on Thursday with the election of Mr Quinn as Labour leader. Colleagues in here are saying that Dick Spring's exit was masterful: despite the worst possible defeats in the general election and the presidential election, he has gone out in a blaze of glory but his going changes the political scene dramatically.
It has always been said that Fianna Fail would not coalesce again with Labour with Mr Spring at its helm. Indeed, prior to the last general election, there were all sorts of suggestions that Labour would have to jettison Mr Spring if Fianna Fail were to do business.
Mr Spring dealt with this suggestion when he signalled his refusal to do business with Fianna Fail at a Limerick conference. Now that he has exited, and particularly with Mr Quinn as leader, the way may be open for a new alliance in the future.
But Drapier would warn that neither Fianna Fail nor Labour should take anything for granted in that the other parties, and particularly Fine Gael, will be looking very closely at the body language between Mr Quinn and Mr Ahern.
In Drapier's opinion, Labour took a very pragmatic decision in picking Mr Quinn. It has been suggested that he might lose out because he was seen as too prepared to do business with others and to a certain extent Brendan Howlin was playing on this. However, when one hears even Proinsias De Rossa decrying perpetual opposition (to Joe Higgins) recently, readers can take it that all has changed, changed dramatically.
But Labour, nonetheless, is in a quandary: does it move to the left and become radical again or does it keep its options open? Knowing Ruairi, we can expect a vocal and vigilant opposition from it but that, ever the pragmatist, he would be prepared to recommend coalition again with either of the two main parties.
Finally, Drapier was very entertained listening to the Vin- cent Browne programme on Monday during when he held the "Alternative People of the Year Awards". Some of the mock awards were very funny. Drapier was surprised that Vincent conveniently forgot one particular award - the Apologiser of the Year. No prizes for guessing who the winner would be. None other than Vincent Browne himself who had to apologise profusely to Dana for his treatment of her on his show during the presidential campaign.