AND so they came, they listened and eventually one in three voted.
Drapier was surprised neither by the turnout nor the result.
Nor is he going to say the low turnout was the fault of us politicians. We were not in a position to generate excitement where none existed or was likely to exist. For the most part we stated our case, argued the toss, some of us better than others and then said to the electorate over to you.
Drapier's view is that the public was bored stiff by the whole thing; in so far as they cared they overwhelmingly wanted change and that was that. Now it is over to Nora Owen to get the Bail Bill before the Oireachtas and to take on board some of the legitimate concerns raised during the campaign.
Not that the referendum or its result meant any respite for Nora Owen. This week she found herself at the receiving end of an extraordinary series of assaults from the Garda Representative Association and it's two principal executives, John Ferry and P.J. Stone.
Normally if a major national group attacked a Minister, opposition parties would be quick to use the attack as another stick to beat the Minister. Not so this week. In fact, the most extraordinary feature of the whole exercise was the caution of the opposition parties.
For a start there was a general sense of unease about a major Garda body becoming so blatantly political. There has been much disquiet about the GRA for a long time, a sense of it being some sort of independent republic with little sensitivity to the impact of its behaviour.
Secondly, however, there was the ferocity and personal nature of the attacks on Nora Owen, and not for the first time either. Of course, the GRA has its own agenda - it doesn't like Nora Owen's proposed legislation - but it has done little to help its case either with us politicians or with the public by the intemperate nature of its statements.
It was another bleak week for the Government but given the huge toll the EU presidency is imposing, Drapier is not sure if many of the Ministers even noticed. There was real anger about John Major's Northern statement in the House of Commons on Thursday.
The public reaction was restrained and people have been down these roads too often in the past to allow the luxury of public recriminations. It was a case of keep the head down and keep talking.
OF COURSE, people here understand John Major's dilemma, but this understanding merely emphasises the peripherality of the North to the Tories when it comes to political survival.
Maybe the rest of us would be no different in Major's shoes, but the whole thing is infinitely depressing and once again lets Sinn Fein off a series of hooks and allows it to indulge in self righteous whingeing without doing anything to help bring about a ceasefire.
On the industrial relations front too, the problems were lining up. Drapier is not surprised. This is par for the course, with one pay agreement running out and another not yet in place. Drapier has no doubt there will be a successor to the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, but the next few months are going to be difficult and a big test, most of all of Ruairi Quinn's capacity to hold the line in the face of intense pressure and unpopular strikes.
Of course, ultimately all politics are local and at that level one of the big talking points here this week was the Galway West MRBI poll.
The place is awash with polls at present, and the various parties, or individuals, are not averse to using leaked polls as a weapon in the propaganda war, to boost their own chances or play down their opponents. Drapier's opinion is that most leaked polls should carry a health warning.
The Galway one, however, carries the MRBI stamp and, in fact, bears out the findings of polls carried out by several parties. Contrary to popular perception, Drapier takes the view that the figures which show Maire Geoghegan Quinn in mortal danger is the best news she could have got.
The fact that Frank Fahey and Eamon O Cuiv are seen to be "safe" will not be lost on Maire's canvassers and has been a potent weapon for many a survivor in the past. As no doubt it will be this time.
The Bobby Molloy vote, however, was not so reassuring. Again Bobby is a great survivor and the election is nine or 10 months off, but the figure reflects the nagging difficulty PD candidates are having in taking off, something reflected in many of the polls Drapier has seen.
But Drapier has warned more than once that the election campaign still has to be fought and the size of the floating vote is still significant.
On a more cheerful note, Drapier paid a visit to the Upper House for the election of the new Cathaoirleach. Drapier was surprised the issue of Liam Naughten's succession was put to a contest but, that said, the whole thing was carried out in the very civilised manner we have come to expect from this Seanad.
DRAPIER was, of course, delighted with the election of Liam Cosgrave. Liam has never been one to flaunt his political pedigree and, as more than one speaker pointed out, his election was a reflection of his own personality and his performance as Whip, rather than a tribute to the Cosgrave name.
Nonetheless, Drapier is a bit of a sentimentalist in these matters and he has a high regard for those families from all sides who have made politics their life's work. Sile de Valera and Eamon O Cuiv, for example, continue the third generation of service from their family, as do Sean Haughey, Eoin Ryan and Gerry Reynolds while the number of second generation families is too numerous to mention.
Drapier was particularly interested to see the warm welcome Liam Cosgrave got from Ray Burke, who turned up for his election. Ray's late father, Paddy Burke, was elected to the Dail the same day and from the same constituency as Liam Cosgrave's father and they served together for many years.
In spite of what people on the outside might think, friendships do flourish in here across party lines with mutual respect being the deciding factor.
