First steps in the transformation of the Taoiseach

Drapier: The first salvo of the general election 2006/2007 was sounded this week

Drapier: The first salvo of the general election 2006/2007 was sounded this week. Step forward the Koran-reading, Muslim-meeting, socialist, republican Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

The Taoiseach knows more than anyone that one of the big arguments which will be made in the next general election is that Fianna Fáil has been in power for too long, and it is time for a change.

Anticipating this, Bertie brought forward the change himself, first in the Saturday interview in The Irish Times with Mark Brennock, followed by Seán O'Rourke's Sunday-night TV Politics Show and then his spirited defence of himself in the Dáil.

The electorate will be faced with a completely different Fianna Fáil leader. The jaded palates of the voters have received a jolt, so expect more of the same. He now approves of legal rights for cohabiting couples, or so he told us. What the party supporters and voters are to make of all of this is another matter.

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How will the leaders of the other parties manage to reposition themselves? Drapier understands that the handlers of Fine Gael have a plan to promote Enda Kenny as a new Jack Lynch - amiable and approachable.

Pat Rabbitte did start his metamorphosis during the summer by a couple of well-argued, cogent speeches. However, he has dropped that strategy, but perhaps it will be renewed.

Trevor Sargent will pursue a new course of moderation for the Green Party - necessary anyway, because of changed circumstances and particularly if the Green votes will be needed to form a new rainbow coalition to put before the electorate.

John Downing's new book, an account of Bertie's last 10 years, is interesting and well-balanced. He interviewed Bertie both on and off the record, so it has a ring of authenticity to it.

In the book he tells Downing of the long hours he works and all the reading he gets through of his files and background papers, advice notes etc.

This is certainly true. Bertie Ahern is always prepared, whether it is for a one-to-one meeting with a constituent or a one-to-one meeting with President Chirac. The Taoiseach will have done the slog work and will not be caught napping. Drapier believes the Taoiseach has had a good decade of leadership.

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Transport remains a thorny subject for Government. The announcement by Willie Walsh and his colleagues was a bombshell and carries within it impatience for the slow deliberations of politicians. Truth is Tom Mulcahy is sorely missed as chairman of the company. He spent the equivalent of two to three days there each week, came in early in the morning at 6 a.m. to avoid the traffic and had a very hands-on approach, reporting on a regular basis to the government through the relevant minister.

Ivor Callely was appointed as junior Minister in that Department quite deliberately by the Taoiseach so that Dublin traffic matters would have a Dublin Minister in charge. He is getting in Martin Cullen's hair, but that is the purpose for which he was installed, so the Minister and the Department officials will have to put up with him.

The appointment by Martin Cullen of Colin Hunt to be his special adviser is good. He will be the PD watchdog in the same Department. He is able and intelligent and must have taken a massive drop in salary to do civic duty. He will have to advise on all the thorny issues which adorn the Department of Transport.

Cullen himself is tenacious, but Drapier feels that the Taoiseach has him on a strong leash. Quite proper, too - Aer Lingus is a huge Dublin issue and the Taoiseach will not run the risk of another Aer Rianta debacle which lost many council seats.

The PDs are of the opinion that if only they were in charge, everything would be settled in transport speedily and successfully. They thought that of health, too, until they got hold of the reins.

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The decision by Prof Aidan Halligan not to take up his Health position in Ireland was a blow to the Government and indeed to the country at large. It is becoming increasingly clear that Mary Harney has to begin to be seen to move on two fronts.

The major Health Bill will soon be debated in both the Dáil and the Seanad and that will mark a good start. Combined with that, there will be the need to deal with everyday matters such as A&E, medical cards etc on which a start was made in the Estimates.

An interim chief executive will need to be appointed, so that there will be an affirmation of the thrust towards reform. Hanly continues to be a considerable bête noire for parliamentarians here in Leinster House and the announcement that communities across the country are to field candidates on an anti-Hanly platform caused many a frisson.

The public has high hopes of Mary Harney in her new role - they wish her well, but they were becoming impatient with the lack of urgency about the whole health issue. The Estimates this week, with considerable increases in health spending, reflect the need to put that perception behind us.

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The North showed a small welcome step forward this week, with the agreement from the two main parties that they would accept a Catholic and Protestant clergyman to vouch for the extent and range of decommissioning. Gen John de Chastelain arrives shortly in Belfast, and the two clergymen will work with him and through him.

There is a belief that, while there is no major breakthrough in the North, there are some small but welcome incremental changes. A small step surely, but at the same time progress.

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There is no doubt that Joe Higgins is one of the best speakers in the Dáil.

Speaking on the Order of Business during the week, he explained that he had come back home having been away for a few days on proper socialist duties. He went to his wardrobe and was upset to find that all his clothes were gone and that they had become the raiment of the Taoiseach.

More and more in that vein, he is sharp and pungent - witty and clever, but not wounding or cutting. He is a real parliamentarian who takes his duties seriously, and the Dáil is all the better for his presence.