Drapier: There are weeks in Leinster House when one feels the heavy hand of history. This was such a week.
It started with the memorable sight of big Ian in Downing Street saying he would do what was hitherto unthinkable and share power with Sinn Féin in the event of total and verifiable decommissioning of IRA weaponry.
There was uproar in the Garda ranks and on the airwaves about the possible release of the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe; a concession which the Taoiseach described as essential to bring Sinn Féin over the final line.
Compromise, which has been the engine of the peace process from the very beginning, allowing the Government to overcome obstacle after obstacle, had finally run into the wall.
No matter how the Taoiseach described it, the perception was that a sovereign government was being led by the nose by the Provos and a solemn promise was being breached. Not a pretty sight.
The Taoiseach had his "Jaysus, lads, give me a break" look in the Dáil on Tuesday in explaining the dilemma in which he found himself. Sometimes in politics your best is not enough.
The question on everyone's lips was how on earth had the McCabe issue managed to get back on the negotiating table when it was clearly understood at the time, and since, that these guys were excluded.
Drapier's view is that the Government should have held the line against the unrelenting offensive by Sinn Féin on this point. Whatever about parking the issue of their early release as an outcome of the final deal, and an act of clemency by the Government, most deputies felt it indecent to have it on the negotiating table. It was invidious and unfair to depict the McCabe family and their supporters as holding up progress for lasting peace.
Sinn Féin's antics in the House never cease to amaze. Never a man to use one word when 20 will do, Sinn Féin's Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin bizarrely droned on about "the wanton destruction of An Post by management".
As usual deputies sat grinding their teeth. They were stunned by his choice of topic as the country was convulsed about the McCabe matter, itself a botched post office robbery.
But, later in the week, endurance turned to rage when in a rambling eulogy to the Sinn Féin leadership the same deputy commended the "courage of the IRA".
It was a sad day in Dáil Éireann to hear the Provos congratulated in the Chamber and he was roundly heckled.
It may be sacrilege to say it, but the peace process has been at times a corrosive political exercise. More conflict resolution than politics, it has required many of us in here to compromise on fundamental democratic principles for the greater good.
Immeasurable time and effort at political and official level have been ploughed in. Governments have come and gone and the process appears never ending.
Contrary to its own declared reasonableness Sinn Féin, is always the most difficult customer.
In Drapier's view it has been overly indulged. Mark Durkan memorably described meetings with republicans over the years as "punishment meetings" such was the unrelenting insatiable push by Sinn Féin for all their demands to be met.
When one list is satisfied, another is produced and all the while the retention of weapons used as a bargaining chip for more concessions. And so it continues. Those parties without weapons have been the losers.
For people who maximise the photographic media for their own propaganda it was ironic to see them balk at the demand for photographic evidence of decommissioning, claiming it would humiliate the IRA.
Never slow to use photo opportunities themselves, to showcase election candidates, such as Mary Lou at Downing Street when she had no business there, Drapier noticed that their latest by-election candidate was opportunistically shoved into the frame this week.
In the Dáil they lecture the rest of us on everything from democracy to the health services.
The world is gone topsy-turvy. If we are not careful we will end up having history rewritten according to the militant republican view of the world, i.e., that the armed struggle was legitimate, that its methods were honourable, and that it won the war against the British and the rest of us. There is a real danger that constitutional politicians are being humiliated and democracy diminished.
As Mary Harney said in the Dáil on Thursday, humiliation works both ways. She also caused jitters in Iveagh House by trashing the notion that the deal collapsed on the photo issue alone as suggested by the Taoiseach. The IRA's failure to sign up to other commitments about low-level criminality, targeting, exiling etc, was also a problem and one which the PDs apparently are not minded to gloss over.
Word is that the PDs have been deeply rattled by the week's developments. With a strong Limerick base the party is under sustained pressure on the McCabe issue, and by week's end two members of the parliamentary party, Tim O'Malley and John Minihan had broken ranks. Fianna Fáil's Peter Power and Willie O'Dea also came in for a media mugging with the new Limerick deputy threatening to resign from his party on the issue.
For Fine Gael it was a good week. Although, having raised the McCabe issue last week and eclipsing the Budget, it fell short in Drapier's view by not tabling a motion on the McCabe issue to flush out the many Government deputies deeply uncomfortable with the Government line. Instead, it tabled a motion on overseas aid on which politically speaking, let's face it, there is no disagreement cross-party.
Sure, there is disappointment that the target set by the Taoiseach in 2000 at the UN may not be reached by 2007 but the budget has been hugely increased and set to rise to at least €665 million a year by 2007.
So it was a missed opportunity to test Dáil sentiment on the McCabe issue by a vote. Overall the week was dispiriting. Another false dawn in the peace process; another false alarm for the McCabe family.
Maybe Bertie should have seen it coming when the Christmas tree lights on the Merrion lawn refused to switch on at the traditional ceremony kicking off the Christmas season. Understandably, Ministers are trying to put their best foot forward on the collapsed deal in the North, but privately, there is bitter disappointment and a growing impatience with republicans. Deputies glazed over when there was talk of nothing happening before the British elections next May and fled to their constituencies after the vote on the health Bill
There is to be a Dáil debate on the North next week. An opportunity for people and parties to let off steam and break free from the often false consensus. The PDs are asserting themselves, revealing historic differences between themselves and Fianna Fáil on Northern Ireland.
But in Drapier's view the Christmas spirit will happily intervene.