IT IS, indeed, a funny old world: in what is certainly the busiest and may well" be among the best of weeks, an ominous warning shot is fired across the bows of the tripartite Coalition.
The Government has rarely been so preoccupied with Anglo Irish and European affairs. And no other administration has managed in so few days to promise such a rich harvest of well paid work.
As Ministers reminded their audiences, these are "high tech jobs for highly qualified people" - 3,450 of them at the last count. But the latest Irish Times/MRBI poll, published yesterday, reflects neither the diplomatic efforts of the last six months nor the continuous promotion of employment.
Instead, it shows that satisfaction with the Coalition has fallen by four points since September and, although the ratings of others have fallen further, faster, at 39 per cent the standing of the present administration has never been lower.
The reason is clear: over three quarters of those questioned said the Government had been damaged by the Lowry affair - a controversy judged by some 45 per cent to have been poorly handled by John Bruton.
True, the Taoiseach had another useful meeting with John Major in London on Monday: they have long agreed on the primacy of multi party discussions and on how Sinn Fein might qualify for admission to them. True, Mr Bruton, Dick Spring and their officials have won the admiration of EU colleagues and such observers as Peter Ludlow of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels for their handling of the presidency.
But as our foreign editor, Paul Gillespie, wrote here yesterday: "When adversarial domestic politics continue through it, as they do in this State, the pressures (of the presidency) are all the more intense."
And it was the adversarial politics of the Lowry affair, not the pressures of the EU presidency, which told with the electorate, with most commentators and with the Opposition.
Last week, at the end of which the Irish Times/MRBI poll was taken, politicians and their critics kept reminding each other of the "disturbing questions" raised by that affair. The most immediate of these may be reduced to two.
One is about the precise nature of Michael Lowry's deal with Ben Dunne and whether tax was paid on the money that passed between them.
It's a question that Mr Lowry must answer as clearly, as simply and as fully as he can when he finally explains himself to the Dail next week, on the last day of the parliamentary session. Because it's the last sitting day, he may be tempted to leave loose ends.
It's a temptation he should resist, in the interests of Fine Gael and its Coalition colleagues and in an effort to restore public confidence in politics.
If Mr Lowry and his Fine Gael friends doubted the damage which their dithering and prevarication would inflict on the Government, they now have a poll to confound them.
The fact that it is Labour which is paying the price is bound to cause as much glee in Fianna Fail as frustration among Dick Spring's allies and supporters. Dropping two points for the sins of Fine Gael is bad enough - especially since it was Mr Spring who made the first formal move to bring the Price Waterhouse report to light. But to fall behind the Progressive Democrats, about whose attitude to political funding and disclosure Labour is deeply suspicious, is the most galling irony of a cruel trade.
WHEN it comes to probity in public life, the PDs are now clearly regarded as the keepers of the national conscience - and, conveniently, as the guardians of the national purse.
Some see Mary Harney in a role similar to that adopted by Mr Spring before the 1992 election, but with the significant difference that she approaches politics from a position that is distinctly right of centre.
While the left was once accused of looking east, to Moscow, for guidance, the right generally and the Progressive Democrats in particular now look beyond Moscow, to Hong Kong and Singapore, for inspiration. But I said that the immediate questions raised by the Lowry affair could be reduced to two. And the second ought to be of more interest to Fianna Fail.
This is the riddle of Dunnes failure to contribute to Fianna Fail in the last 10 years when the company's donations to Fine Gael amounted on that party's admission to £180,000.
Our financial editor, Cliff Taylor, wrote here on Thursday of the possibility that Judge Gerard Buchanan, who is examining the Price Waterhouse report, may ask Dunnes Stores for some supporting documents.
One of these documents is an affidavit prepared by Ben Dunne for an action now settled. Its relevance, it seems, is that it's believed to provide Mr Dunne's version of how a series of payments amounting to £1.1 million found their way from the company to the person regarded as the ultimate beneficiary, a Fianna Fail politician.
Several senior members of Fianna Fail confirmed that it had not received contributions from Dunnes Stores. Bertie Ahern asked the members of his parliamentary group to declare their donations from the company. They did and he was happy with the results. Fianna Fail hasn't commented on the persistent reports of payments of £1.1 million or more, though some members point to the absence of evidence so far.
No internal investigation has been announced into what is now the most mysterious aspect of the Lowry affair, though when the first reports appeared some possible explanations were hastily suggested - and subsequently denied.
So, as they wait for Judge Buchanan to complete his sifting and the Committee on Procedure and Privileges to begin its task which, it's now agreed, may well lead to a more formal inquiry - politicians and commentators turn their attention to the Electoral Bill.
It has taken far less than a week for some who had complained about Dunnes' contributions to the parties to come out equally loudly against State aid for politics and politicians. No sooner had Brendan Howl in made his modest proposal of partial funding in exchange for disclosure of significant contributions and control on spending than a screech of populist outrage went up in predictable quarters.
Commentators who don't much like politicians or politics saw the proposal as a plot to raise their taxes. They joined politicians who don't much like the State in the argument that, of course, it won't work.
On radio, Michael McDowell tittered to Vincent Browne and Helen Keogh muddled through a Morning Ireland interview which seemed to suggest that the PDs may be ready to strike a blow for the right to have it both ways. {CORRECTION} 96121300089