DRAPIER was talking last week about the silly season. If he needed confirmation he got it on Tuesday when three of his normally more sensible colleagues, Joe Costello, Frances Fitzgerald and David Norris, took time out to engage in northside/ southside (Dublin that is), conspiracy theory as to whether the moving of the Tourist Office from O'Connell Street to Suffolk Street was part of a continuing and dastardly plot against the northside. All Drapier can say is that the debate lacked conviction and the sooner some real news turns up, the better for all of us.
Not lacking conviction was Paul McGrath, when he got stuck into the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the excesses at Westmeath Vocational Education Committee. It is not a pretty story and Paul has been chewing on this particular bone for sometime now. Drapier has no doubt there is more to come on this issue and we can expect the local ground hurling to be sustained and nasty.
The fact that the VEC in question was dominated by a Fianna Fail majority adds its own sharpness to the issue.
Indeed, the VECs in general are going to be close to the centre of political action in the coming months. Nobody in here seriously disputes the need to reshape the whole vocational education sector, but any reshaping is going to upset more than a few vested interests and that is precisely what Niamh Bhreathnach's proposals have done.
The excesses and irregularities of Westmeath will strengthen Niamh Bhreathnach's case, though in Drapier's view, it is a genuinely isolated incident.
The real pressure on this issue will come directly from county councillors onto their TDs and senators, especially the latter, and given the Government's continuing absence of a majority in the Seanad, the pressure there will be intense.
The other big educational issue which will surface in the autumn, as Irish Times readers will no doubt know, is of course the Universities Bill. The main opposition to this bill will probably come from Trinity, though at this stage Drapier is beginning to wonder what the fuss is all about.
THE BILL, as published, is significantly different from the earlier version, and Niamh Bhreathnach does appear to have consulted fairly widely over the past few months.
In Drapier's view, the Bill represents a modest enough series of proposals for reform and he welcomes in particular the opening up of the governing authorities in the various colleges to hitherto unrepresented or under represented groups. And as for outside representation on these bodies, Drapier does not understand what the fuss is all about.
Drapier strongly believes in the benefits of having a few well informed outsiders on boards like this - and remember these "outsiders" are also taxpayers, the main funders of third-level education. And no matter how "pernicious" these handful of "outsiders" may be, the academics will still be firmly in the majority.
Drapier wonders what the fuss is all about - are not other bodies throughout the country littered with academic members, many of whom make a very valuable contribution and indeed when it comes to fund raising isn't it these same "outsiders" to whom the universities instinctively turn for help?
The real nub of the legislation from the universities' point of view, at least as Drapier sees it, is to be found in Sections 18 and 33.
Section 33 lays down fairly stringent controls by the Higher Education Authority on the budgets of the universities and it is this which has raised fears of excessive Civil Service control.
Control of the purse could well, they argue, amount to control of many other areas of university life, the HEA could play favourites, helping one university to develop while hindering another for political or ideological reasons. That at least is the fear and in Drapier's view it is the one real issue on which Niamh Bhreathnach will have to provide reassurance.
Section 18 has also raised hackles. This allows the Government in certain circumstances to suspend a Governing Authority, but the whole process is so cumbersome and involves the consent of both Houses of the Oireachtas that it is virtually the same as removing a High Court judge - something to be contemplated only in the most extreme of circumstances. In any event, why should a Governing Authority which is out of order not be stopped in its tracks? The procedure proposed by the Minister is open and is ultimately accountable to the Oireachtas. Drapier sees no real argument on this score.
THEN, of course, there is the question of Trinity. Being a mere graduate of the University of Life, Drapier hesitates to get involved in the Byzantine politics of our oldest university, but he would have thought that the Government's willingness to allow Trinity produce a Private Bill to change its own charter (and change it in a minimal way, Drapier might add) was a reasonable and sensible via media for all sides.
Indeed, some people here argue it is going too far - that Trinity as a national institution enjoying significant public funding should take its place with the others. Are not the charters of Galway and Cork 150 years old?
In any event, the Universities Bill will be taken early in the new session. At present, it looks as if it will begin its life in the Dail but the real action will await its arrival in the Seanad. There the balance of power is held by the five unwhipped university senators and of course by Shane Ross who, though he takes the Fine Gael whip, has strong views on this as indeed on most subjects.
Drapier, however, does not expect university senators to behave in a monolithic way. The view from Joe Lee's University College Cork may not necessarily coincide with the perspective of College Green. Many of Joe O'Toole's voters come from those hitherto unrepresented groups who have most to gain from the proposed changes; Feargal Quinn is pre eminently a moderniser and will stand his ground. The real pressure will be on the three Trinity senators. And Liam Cosgrave will have his work cut out delivering on this one. It promises to be diverting, though in Drapier's view, the Trinity issue is a bottle of smoke. The real meat in this legislation is to be found in Section 33.
Drapier was pleased to see John Alderdice elevated to the House of Lords. It's not the same of course as the House of Commons, but it does give him a parliamentary platform and is recognition of his dedicated and brave work over a long period.
It's easy to sneer at the Alliance Party as being irrelevant to the real problems of Northern Ireland and of being representative of the sort of people who prefer muesli to the great Ulster fry for their breakfast.
Such a view is very wide of the mark. John Alderdice has been even handed, tolerant, decent and straightforward. At times of polarisation he is the first to suffer, but that has not stopped him telling the truth to both sides. He has many friends in Leinster House who will welcome his elevation and wish him and his party well.