EVERYBODY quotes a Frenchman these days. No, not Thierry Henry, the man who switched on Wednesday night from the golden boot to the magic hand, but Talleyrand, the man with the silver tongue.

It was Talleyrand who said of the Bourbons that "they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing". Revolutions and dictatorships might come and go, but the Bourbons would go on living in a world of their own. Just like Fianna Fail.

Another quote, this time from an Irishman. Dr Noel Browne told me 30-odd years ago that Fianna Fail "understand nothing about power, they only care about office". And as long as they are in office, enjoying the privileges and deciding who gets the jobs, they simply can't believe that things are all that bad.

Even their fleeting glimpses of reality are imperfect. In the wake of the Hand of Henry rumpus, Dermot Ahern wanted the match replayed. Brian Cowen talked of raising the incident with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Come on, lads. Haven't you heard about FIFA?

Fianna Fail come closer to the point when something threatens their own comfort zone. This week, in the middle of the AIB imbroglio, Cowen turned his attention to the Freedom of Information Act. His concern seemed to be that those pesky media were wasting the time of officials who have to check their queries under the FOI.

One could answer that by saying, first, that they're not wasting anyone's time since the officials are there specifically to do the job; secondly, that the media have to pay for the answers.

But of course it is ridiculous to imagine that anyone in the Cowen Government stays awake at night worrying about waste of time or money. The truth is that ministers have been annoyed by the disclosures of the expenses scandals. Not even Fianna Fail's skin is thick enough to let them ignore the reports. The media also misbehaved themselves, at any rate in the opinion of Willie O'Dea, when they criticised the nomination of Maire Geoghegan-Quinn as our new European Commissioner.

This criticism was quite muted for two reasons, MGQ's undoubted abilities and the "gender balance" argument. But the point -- a good point, too -- was very clearly made.

There was another obvious candidate. Pat Cox was pretty much the hero of the Lisbon II referendum campaign. He had other excellent credentials. Moreover, giving him the nomination would have served as a reminder of the cross-party nature of the campaign and an indication that, just once in a blue moon, national interests can outweigh party interests. But such arguments are wasted on our Bourbons.

Instead of listening, the reigning monarch dashed off to Bundoran to address a Fianna Fail youth conference. Reportedly he got a rapturous reception.

I really must look in on one of these events sometime. Who are these young people? Did they join the party because their great-grandads were founder members in 1926? Or do they hope for briefs, jobs and contracts for themselves when they grow a little older? Perish the thought.

At any rate, they got lots of reassurances from the Taoiseach that they had joined the right party. Fianna Fail the glorious, Fianna Fail the infallible; that was his theme. Fianna Fail would get us out of our present fix. Who, I wonder, got us into it?

And who, I also wonder, will co-operate in the efforts to get us out? The Government has been losing chunks of its former comfort zone.

The public service unions, who like to view themselves as victims, plan a one-day strike next Tuesday. They must have forgotten the benchmarking affair of 2002, in which they in effect conspired with Bertie Ahern against the interests of the population at large. One of their own leaders, Senator Joe O'Toole, told the teachers that benchmarking was an ATM. So it proved.

To come back to the present, how can they explain the purpose of the strike? This time, Fianna Fail have to suppress all their instincts. They cannot climb down. Yet there is no point in a strike, or any other kind of trade union action, unless the unions think a climbdown is possible. Who is out of touch with the real world here?

Speaking of climbdowns, what really happened when another part of the comfort zone went sour, when Brian Lenihan managed to impose a salary cap on AIB executives but lost on a bigger issue, his demand that an outsider should become chief executive?

The bank stays alive by the grace and favour of the Government. It holds only one card, but the biggest card of all: the indubitable fact that the Government cannot let it collapse and bring down the rest of the banking system with it.

That, however, need not mean that it can maintain its arrogant attitude through all the next twists in the horror story, when Lenihan imposes more and more conditions in return for more and more money. The time must come when he who pays the piper calls the tune, or as much of the tune as is compatible with common sense.

In short, the Government and the bankers must find a modus vivendi, but that will be impossible if the bankers continue, like Fianna Fail, to think they can go on behaving like Bourbons.

How many of these issues are visible to the members of the Cabinet? In particular, do they understand that they are not there merely to hold office but to govern the country?

Thierry Henry won a match and lost his reputation. The Government has no reputation to lose. But it does have choices to make: the hard choices about which ministers never stop bleating but which they never stop dodging.

jdowney@independent.ie

Irish Independent