DRAPIER: Fianna Fáil has taken the first step in the "Dunlopisation" of the Civil Service. Charlie McCreevy's new Public Service Management Bill will abolish the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissions, Drapier says.
The impartiality of the public service will be undermined. Local recruitment will be allowed to overcome shortages generated by scattergun decentralisation plans.
It is ironic that Tom Parlon, the political trafficker of civil servants, has the task of taking the Bill through the House. The ban on special advisers or political assistants being directly appointed to Civil Service jobs has been removed.
Frank Dunlop, who started his career with Fianna Fáil as press officer, was made assistant secretary in the Department of Education when C.J. Haughey left office in 1981. Some years later, having acquired an intimate knowledge of the corridors of power, he resigned his permanent and pensionable public service post. His corruption of many public representatives, as revealed by Justice Flood, is a matter of record.
Drapier is saddened by the dismantling of one of the great achievements of the founding fathers of this State, a non-partisan and non-corrupt public service. Even Dev would not have gone this far because he knew what it replaced.
r r r
Drapier wonders if something strange has happened to the electoral cycle, or are we experiencing a sophisticated form of political spin. More than 1,000 local authority seats, along with 13 European Parliament seats, are to be contested next June. Yet much focus has been turned on the one seat in the Park, which is not vacant until October. I suppose Enda Kenny let the cat out of the bag, but Michael D was not shy about his own ambitions.
The funny bit was Mary Harney saying there should be no competition, sorry, election.
The sad bit was Brian Lenihan accusing Labour of making the presidency a political football. His late and liked father played political football all his life and seldom minded if he was off-side, for example, when Haughey sent him to Washington DC to lobby the Four Horsemen against the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
r r r
Pat Rabbitte will have to learn to give shorter answers or conceal his irritation on radio. Last Sunday, Róisín Duffy, an RTÉ Northern journalist, batted repeatedly on behalf of an ex-RTÉ Northern journalist who may want to hold on to her seat in the Park. More than half the annual This Week interview was used on a non-event while the chaos in the public services, not to mention industrial relations conflicts, were ignored. It was lazy journalism from RTÉ, but the Labour leader will have to try harder.
r r r
Does anyone, other than Séamus Brennan, know why Aer Rianta is to be broken up? Drapier is not a big fan of the trade unions but it is a strange world when they are demanding to see the details of a business plan and a pro-business, pro-competition Minister cannot produce one. If it was simply about letting the three airports have local autonomy for setting competitive landing charges, could that not be done within the one company?
We could be looking at the most complex and expensive redundancy package in the history of the State. Would it not be cheaper to simply sack the chairman, or is he still too close to Albert Reynolds?
r r r
Nuala Ahern and Patricia McKenna were called back from the European Parliament for counselling by their leader, Trevor Sargent, after a very public and bitter row. What the public saw, for the first time, has been simmering for more than six years. Patricia takes no prisoners and is always right. The Greens will lose one MEP next June and could end up with none, which, of course, would release Patricia back into domestic politics. Now, if ever there was an incentive to canvass for your colleague - that is one.
r r r
Michael McDowell's face was a picture of studied restraint as the Taoiseach was reminded of the Ceausescu gibe about his ill-concealed and doomed Abbotstown monument. Forced to announce the Government decision on the Lansdowne Road stadium, Bertie Ahern, in a Freudian slip of deep significance, told the house that the Minister for Justice had earlier released the full details.
There was a palpable sigh of relief that, at last, we had a sensible and feasible solution, even it if it is four years late. The Taoiseach tried to hold on to some dignity with the political figleaf of something, at sometime, when resources become available, to cater for some sports, out at Abbotstown!
r r r
The combination of arrogance and incompetence in the Department of Justice that has infected almost every Justice Minister was evident on Wednesday. All stages of a new Immigration Bill, in reaction to the findings of the High Court that found part of the 1999 Act unconstitutional, would be taken the following day. All stages.
The Taoiseach confirmed this on the Order of Business, knowing that the Bill was not published and that the opposition spokespeople had no draft text.
Guillotining legislation, like this, makes bad law. When the last Bill was pushed through the House an accurate prediction of its unconstitutionality by Brendan Howlin was contemptuously dismissed. Later in the day, under the combined pressure of the opposition parties, the Government backed down. The Minister decided to start the Bill in the Seanad before taking it through the Dáil. Perhaps the Department, and its officials, will now recognise that Oireachtas members can be of help. Proper scrutiny will ensure constitutionality.
***
On Wednesday afternoon, the fire alarm rang throughout Leinster House. The Dáil and Seanad were emptied as members and staff vacated the buildings. The fire officer and captain of the guard thanked all concerned for their orderly co-operation. What he did not tell, in his e-mail, was the cause - a votive candle, no doubt lit in supplication to the gods of democracy, in a Fianna Fáil senator's office had set fire to some papers. Could this be an omen for June 11th, polling day?