Isn't it always the same? They come out of nowhere. As Albert Reynolds said, "It's the small ones that trip you up."
It reminds Drapier once again of the rod licences. It's the ones you least expect that cause the most trouble.
Drapier has sympathy for David Andrews. The section of the Public Services Management Act which enables the Minister to make appointments directly would not have been there if at some stage or other it was not meant to be used. David Andrews used the powers vested in him and, as far as Drapier can see, all three of the promoted officers are of the highest calibre and untouched by political affiliation.
That, as Drapier sees it, should be that, but of course it is not. Thanks to Eithne Fitzgerald's Freedom of Information legacy, it's all out in the open. Drapier even wonders if anybody in the public service will ever put pen to paper again now that all semblance of confidentiality is gone.
David Andrews is long enough around to take the rough with the smooth, but given the cast of characters involved this one will run and run. A scoop is a scoop and Mr Bird won't give up easily; the civil servants' union will be forced to take a stand; the opposition will continue to stoke it up on the floor of the House as Dick Spring, Gay Mitchell and Proinsias De Rossa did to some effect on Thursday. And David Andrews is not noted for backtracking or a propensity for admitting he was wrong.
In fact, it would not be understating it to say that stubbornness is an Andrews family characteristic, even if in David's case it is wrapped in a certain elegant insouciance.
Elsewhere the Government has been picking the difficult issues and seeking to take them off the agenda. All nice and quietly, no fuss, just careful management.
First the nurses and Bertie's Friday-night about-face on whether or not the Labour Court route would be the one, and then the Joe Walsh package announced down in Ferns just before the skies opened on the unfortunate farmers.
In theory it's great. The practice is not quite so neat. The two exercises showed a side of Bertie that has often been noted here. A great man for the good news: the bad news is somebody else's job.
Thus Mary Harney, Brian Cowen and Charlie McCreevy all played a straight bat on the nurses' issue, only to find themselves wrong-footed by the Bertie spin.
They were not best pleased, nor should they have been, but more than that an impression was created that the problem had been resolved and that all the nurses had to do was turn up and ask. That is far from the case, as the coming weeks will show.
As for the farmers, Drapier is perplexed. All his life he has listened to farmers crying wolf and doing the poor mouth. The government is always at fault, the rest of us are ungrateful and if it wasn't for the farmers where would we all be?
Drapier is generally sceptical when it comes to farmers. They have the best, most ruthless and most focused PR system in the country. They have shown a capacity for hard, merciless campaigning in defence of their own interests, and have only lately and grudgingly come to any real acceptance of their own responsibilities to the consumer, to the taxman and to the environment.
And yet even Drapier feels this time that they do have a case. Few enough of Drapier's urban voters will concede even that, and most are sick and tired of being subjected to the cease less whingeing, and blaming of everybody but themselves.
But in truth there is a genuine level of hardship, a sense of helplessness and hopelessness about their prospects.
As markets crash and prices drop, as the factories and barons become more powerful, as CAP reform looks ever more unpalatable, there is very little any government can do. That is precisely why Bertie hightailed it out of Ferns on Tuesday, leaving Joe Walsh on his tod to unveil a package that was, and probably had to be, totally inadequate.
Joe was left to face the wrath while Bertie winged his way to the next photo-call, leaving the mud and the anger behind.
But that's what being boss is all about.
Incidentally, Drapier noticed Larry Goodman, also at Ferns, having a go at the measures proposed. The Government was not doing enough, he said. Are our memories really that short?
Much talk around the House this week is of tribunals. Mr Justice Moriarty has made it clear that it is full steam ahead, even if he took care not to hide his lack of appreciation of the brethren in the Supreme Court.
Padraig Flynn's name was much mentioned, even if most people felt it totally unfair that Tom Gilmartin could make such serious allegations, confirm them to the media, and then refuse to sign a statement and testify.
All Padraig Flynn can do is issue his denial, but already the rumours are flying, the doubts are sown and damage is done.
Now we have a situation where anybody with a gripe can make allegations, propagate them and then walk away. As far as Drapier is concerned, until there is conclusive proof Padraig Flynn is innocent and completely so. In Drapier's view that is how matters are likely to remain.
Meanwhile Drapier has been bringing himself up to date on the most recent proposals for standards in public office. The proposals are issued in the name of Charlie McCreevy but have the stamp of the lawyers and civil servants all over them.
In Drapier's view some are over the top and create so many pitfalls for the unwary that political life will not be worth it. One suggestion in particular got under Drapier's skin, the possibility that anonymous allegations would be entertained and investigated by the new commission.
Just imagine how this would work. A political opponent or a malevolent punter writes in with an allegation of improper behaviour against Deputy X or Minister Y. The complaint has to be investigated, and word is leaked to the media by the complainant.
The headlines shout "Deputy under investigation", the rumours fly, the damage is done. And once done it is not easily undone. It's a mischief-maker's charter.
The debate on these issues is going to challenge us all. It would be easy to ride with the populist and media tide and create a framework that will make politics so unattractive that no sane person will want to have any part of it.
We have an obligation to see that the new arrangements are open and effective, but not to create a regime of fear or a labyrinth of technical traps for the unwary or the genuinely busy.
Drapier only wishes Ger Connolly were around at this time.