DRAPIER: Drapier is now clear that Liz O'Donnell has fired the first public shot in her bid to succeed the Tánaiste.
Mary Harney's manifest fatigue, combined with her probable failure to move to Iveagh House in the summer reshuffle, will no doubt see her retirement as leader of the Progressive Democrats.
Ms O'Donnell's real disquiet with the racist, opportunistic populism of Michael McDowell's citizenship referendum is shared by all those liberals who flocked to "Stand by the Republic" with the founder of the Progressive Democrats, Dessie O'Malley.
But to make matters worse, "Law and Order" McDowell has got himself into trouble over the Masters of the Dublin maternity hospitals, confusing dates and refusing to provide facts to justify his rushed measure.
Liz O'Donnell's other comments about the Justice Minister's rants against the IRA and Sinn Féin are designed to blunt his growing appeal among former Fine Gael supporters and to demonstrate her real and effective knowledge as to how to bring Sinn Féin in from the cold by getting them on to the Northern Ireland Police Authority. Liz O'Donnell sat in stony silence in the Dáil when McDowell began the debate on the referendum on Wednesday. Drapier knows when colleagues' loyalties are being stretched. The Chamber, after all, is a compact place. As the PD deputy for Dublin South pursed her lips, the PD deputy for Dún Laoghaire, Fiona O'Malley, could take no more and soon left the Chamber after the Minister had continued to rant against all in front of him.
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John Deasy should decide does he want to stay in or leave Fine Gael. Maverick that his father was, he never played the lone ranger card the way his son has consistently done, even though he is less than two years in the Dáil. He has an honourable choice: accept the offer from McDowell to join the Progressive Democrats, or realise that Fine Gael will only be in power on the basis of a social democratic programme for government.
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Pat Rabbitte had a good weekend and so did Enda Kenny and Trevor Sargent. The well-run and professionally presented one-day Labour Party election conference was more like an engagement party for the Democratic Alliance. No date had been set for the big day but expect it in late autumn, after the election results will determine who is to be the groom, bride and best man. The menu for the meal will be dominated by dishes prepared mostly by Labour, with a Green starter, and Fine Gael afters. Enda knows that a clear rural and agricultural theme will consolidate what is now the heartland of support for Fine Gael.
Drapier realises that the food poisoners in Fianna Fáil will attempt to rubbish the dishes on offer, but they will not succeed. Sargent, Kenny and Rabbitte are clear on what they want to do, but none can move until they see just what cards the electorate deal to them on June 11th.
Drapier expects much exhortation to the public to endorse the prospect of the Democratic Alliance with a strong turnout and a hefty vote for the three parties.
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Bertie's boy, Raving Royston, has finally imploded in the privacy of his own dedicated group of Fianna Fáil activists. Having effectively been silenced when he was put on the Fianna Fáil Dublin Euro ticket so as to take the lucrative seat to Dublin's northside, he has blown it again.
Having described his fellow city councillors as clowns, he has now brought his political experience and wisdom to investigate the occupants of the Mansion House and assess their performance. His conclusion, in a second interview, after getting a yellow card for the first one, is that yes, they were a crowd of drinking and partying nobodies, including, oops - the present Taoiseach.
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Drapier has known that Belfast exercises a tight control on the utterances of the Sinn Féin/IRA deputies in Leinster House, but was surprised to see that not only are the parliamentary questions written out for the civilian deputies but so, too, are the supplementaries.
The arrival of four additional deputies to join Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin suggested to many that we could expect a display of impressive democratic pyrotechnics in the Dáil from the five lads. Sadly, for the five deputies and their fellow travellers, the explosive characteristics of Semtex do not seem to easily translate into democratic disputation and debate. They have got to be the most unimpressive performers of any newly-elected parliamentary group that Dáil Éireann has ever seen.
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Drapier wonders what the Band of Brothers will do on the independent benches after Marian Harkin departs to Brussels. She will, of course, keep her two salaries while doing the one job and will be even less effective in the European Parliament than she has been in the Dáil. But the lads will have a problem as the next general election looms and they cannot offer an alternative government to a wishing electorate. With nothing to show for their five years of solo independence, they might be very surprised with the welcome they could receive.
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Drapier wonders what will happen to the full portrait of our President that hangs, pride of place, in the main entrance hall of Leinster House, when she announces her candidacy for her second term in the Park.
Political posters, even elegant oil-painted ones, are not allowed on public display in the environs of the House. Mind you, she should not be there in the first place as, unlike her predecessor Mary Robinson, she was never a member of either House. She did make a run for the Dáil back in 1987, as one of Charlie's angels.
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Hanly has not gone away, so the Minister for Health and Children, Michael Martin, has - like Lewis Carroll - decided to interpret or translate what Hanly really means. At national level it means a few limited centres of excellence. At local level, particularly Ennis or Nenagh, it means continuous A&E cover with suitable qualified medical professionals. No Department of Health official, or delegate at the IMO annual conference, could comment on the latter classification. Hopefully, the Minister, like Brian Cowen before him, will be out of "Angola" before he has to offer such a precise description of the qualification.