It was a fractious enough week with rows on the Order of Business, frequent trips to the voting lobby and trench warfare in and around the Dail chamber. That at least was how it seemed, but to Drapier at least it lacked passion and to most of us it was the familiar end-of-session routine.
The immediate cause of the friction was straightforward en ough, and Drapier believes John Bruton was right on this one. The issue here was the determination of the Government to take the Courts Bill, which gave pensions to former judges Hugh O'Flaherty and Cyril Kelly and to Mr Michael Quinlan this week, before publication of the joint committee report.
The Opposition case was that since the Oireachtas had asked the justice committee to investigate this whole matter, it made more sense to await publication of this report before taking the legislation.
To Drapier that made total sense. The committee was a committee of the Dail and Seanad, it had been charged by both Houses to find out what happened and its report was relevant to the pensions debate. More than that, it was only a question of waiting a day or two as the report which was eventually published on Thursday was imminent when the debate on the Courts Bill was arranged.
But no, the Government would have none of it. This was an embarrassing little Bill carrying its own ghosts and with potential for trouble. It was to be got off the table as quickly as possible, and so it was, even if it meant a litany of votes.
To tell the truth there was little enough of substance in the whole row. The Government was doing what governments always do at this time of the year, clearing the decks as quickly and totally as possible and getting away from Dail scrutiny.
This year in particular, with tribunals in the background and the likelihood of more disclosures and potentially embarrassing witnesses, the Government would like to be spared the prospect of daily ambushes on the Order of Business, the inevitable wobbles among the PDs and the renewal of what is, at best, pointless speculation about the survival of the Government.
The fact is the Government has reached the summer recess without mishap. That was the immediate target. Earlier crises are now a mere memory. Autumn will be a new start and, with the economy booming, everything is possible.
That is why we are rising early, why the Government wants to get on with its work in a Dail-free atmosphere, hoping for a benign summer, chock-full of good news stories, with the Opposition stranded and beached in the general sense of national well-being.
All that would be needed to put icing on this cake would be three wins on the trot for Mick McCarthy's team and a passport to the European finals.
That at least is the scenario as scripted by the Government's spin-doctors and managers. It may work out so but, as Drapier has noted more than once, it is when things look settled, when all eventualities are accounted for, that the unexpected invariably happens. Not that anybody in here is looking for extra excitement. We all feel we have had more than enough to keep us going for the summer.
There is, however, one piece of legislation which, in Drapier's view, needs careful consideration.
The Copyright Bill has been a long time coming - years, not months - but now that it is here there is the usual departmental pressure for speedy passage. As Drapier understands it, the Government wants to clear this entire Bill of more than 300 sections through the Seanad in two days next week.
Drapier urges caution. The ear ly committee stages in the Seanad showed that this Bill needs careful scrutiny, such as was given it by Feargal Quinn, Paul Coghlan and Brendan Ryan.
From their early scrutiny, it is clear that there are many flaws in this Bill, many questions needing clarification. It needs a minister with the self-confidence to ensure that it gets the parliamentary scrutiny it needs. It is a challenge for Tom Kitt, but Drapier detects no particular enthusiasm on his part to take it up.
In fact the Seanad has been having a good year as far as detailed committee stage scrutiny is concerned, and Drapier's advice to all concerned is not to let themselves be rushed on this one.
Speculation continued over the European Commissioner, but it is speculation based on no hard information. There is speculation first as to whether Bertie Ahern had actually proposed a major business figure and as to who it might be. Then the name of Mic hael Woods surfaced as a possible contender, but not for long.
He was followed by a number of other Cabinet members, Joe Walsh especially having his support, while Dick Spring and Alan Dukes were clearly out of any reckoning. Inevitably, however, all conversations returned to two names, Brian Cowen and Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.
If the decision lay with the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, there would be no contest, it would be Brian Cowen by a distance. It is not just that Laois-Offaly is regarded as safe Fianna Fail territory, it is that there is a genuine respect for Cowen's qualities and a sense that they are just the qualities needed for a European Commissioner.
To a certain extent, he is an acquired taste. He does not present well, but that doesn't seem to bother him. He is a PR man's nightmare. He has a short fuse, can be brutally direct in his putdowns. Nobody would ever accuse him of being a smoothie.
What gives Cowen his edge is his capacity to get to the core of any issue. He has the ability to master a complicated brief, to put his own stamp on it and to focus on what really matters. He is very much his own man and is a bruiser when it comes to fighting his own corner.
That essentially is the case being made for him. He would not be overawed, he would know his own mind and would never lose the run of himself.
Maire Geoghegan-Quinn's supporters are less in evidence, but her case remains strong; especially the gender factor, no byelection and, of course, her own experience and ability. Hers is a more silent campaign, but as the week came to an end, her supporters seemed to be exuding a quiet sort of confidence. Anyway we'll all know soon enough.
Meanwhile the Northern gloom overhangs everything else. That was evident in both Houses as we debated a new Northern Bill this week. It's not that people don't want to talk, it's the sense that anything that can usefully be said has already been said and that the solution lies essentially with the Northerners talking to each other, not for ever looking to others to solve their problems.
Anyway, all our good wishes are with the Taoiseach and Tony Blair this Derby weekend.