Drapier - An insider's guide to politics: Thank the Lord for Michael D. His slip of the tongue - which gave Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern a new position as "Minister for Fornica . . . " during an exchange in the Dáil about something worthy which Drapier has long forgotten - was about the only bit of light relief during a week of unremitting tedium in the Dáil.
The rí rá about PPARs, or Pre Pack as Bertie called it on Wednesday, is terribly important but it's also very, very boring. All of a sudden the normal discourse in the House is littered with strange acronyms and carefully-pronounced shovelfuls of IT speak. No speech about PPARs would be complete without gigantic helpings of gobbledegook which none of us really understands.
Not that Drapier is a Neanderthal in these matters. Far from it. Drapier can surf as well as the next man but make no mistake, the only PDF which most guys in this place have ever heard of is Óglaigh na hÉireann.
Of course, it is that very ignorance which leads Ministers to call in consultants whenever anything to do with ICT is on the table. All anyone knows about this stuff is that we can't live without it and it costs a fortune. Hey presto, some people get very rich and the taxpayer takes the hit.
That aside, there is no doubt the PPARs thing has hurt the Government. The story plays to all the public's prejudices about Government, namely that it wastes money and is itself a waste of money. Even more insidious for the current crowd is the fact that the debacle plays brilliantly well to the Opposition's trump card, namely the notion that FF and the PDs have been around too long. Expect to hear liberal use of words such as "arrogant", "jaded", "out of touch" in the months ahead. It's a time-honoured formula but who is to say it won't work?
It could be PPARs or it could be something more profound, but either way it's clear that something or other has spooked the PDs.
First off Liz O'Donnell wades in to support Michael D in a spat with Dermot Ahern. Then Mary Harney lets it be known that no self-respecting PD would ever be guilty of wasting public money, unlike those profligate Fianna Fáil types.
Then Fiona O'Malley ups the ante by saying that she will vote against the Government if it doesn't ban drift netting for salmon.
Later John Dardis went on radio to argue the case for salmon, only to be told in no uncertain terms by Pat the Cope that any salmon foolish enough to go anywhere near Donegal had ipso facto forfeited its right to life. It could all be an elaborate conspiracy to remind us that the PDs still exist.
On the other hand, it could just be an unco-ordinated fit of the jitters, not least on the part of Dessie's daughter.
Drapier is quite taken by Fiona and not just because of her extravagant millinery taste. She has an openness about her which is quite refreshing in this business.
She is engaging, scatty and chatty. On first meeting you might even mistake her for a Green. She has an easy manner and an eccentric streak which is more than a little arty. She also has a really dodgy seat.
Fiona and the other PDs know well that their chances of electoral survival hinge on putting distance between Fianna Fáil and themselves, and we can expect more and more of this as the election gets closer.
That said, Drapier will lay any money that Fiona will not be visiting the Opposition lobby any time soon.
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One part of Fianna Fáil's pre-campaign strategy has become very clear in recent weeks. The Get the Greens campaign is only a small part of the greater effort to drive a wedge between the parties of the putative rainbow, but it is much the most entertaining part.
Brian Cowen rarely wastes an opportunity to goad Dan Boyle into saying something which might upset the Blueshirts.
Likewise, Dermot Ahern is only delighted to talk up the Eurosceptic and pacifist tendencies within the Greens.
An exchange last week between Dermot and John Gormley looked for a short while as if it might get genuinely bad tempered, as the two of them debated Shannon and Iraq and the US military and that sort of stuff.
The FF line of attack is just a little problematic for Trevor and Co.
On the one hand, they can hardly forgo their unique selling points, in that their voters expect a decent dose of idealism and occasional eccentricity.
On the other hand, they need to be sufficiently on message with Enda and Pat to make an alternative government seem credible. A delicate balancing act, but fun to watch.
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Drapier found Alec Reid's comments in Belfast downright depressing. To be sure he lost the rag. To be sure he was provoked. But the sectarian prejudice which his remarks laid bare, not to mention the fit of whataboutery that it unleashed from some of the unionists at the meeting, was all terribly disheartening.
No doubt the good father genuinely regrets what he said but, as Jeffrey Donaldson so succinctly put it, the genie simply cannot be put back into the bottle. Any credibility which Fr Reid might have had among unionists as a man who had done a lot to bring about the IRA ceasefire was lost in a few hot-tempered moments.
For those of us looking at the North from the cosy comfort of the South the incident points up in no uncertain manner the mutual dislike between the communities north of the Border. We may have peace. We may have political agreement. We may even get functioning institutions.
But Northern Ireland is still a horribly dysfunctional place.