The overturning of Judge Mary Laffoy's interpretation of the original Supreme Court ruling on Section 1 (1) of the 1935 Criminal Law Act was what the people of Ireland, on the air, in print and in person had demanded all week. Friday's judgement meant that action was possible to prevent the spectacle of convicted child rapists walking free, claiming compensation and terrorising children again.

For the coalition it was a lucky break. In one fell swoop, the electorate was appeased, the backbenchers were quietened, the opposition's righteous anger was quenched and Michael McDowell's job was safe. Their correct assertion that they could never have anticipated the events of the last 10 days, was vindicated. The right thing was done and the whole sorry matter is over. Or is it?

The issue, although listening to successive ministers it was easy to be confused, was never just about the Supreme Court. It was about the Minister for Justice not knowing about the crisis. It was about the Taoiseach batting off the real concerns of people countrywide. It was about a government out of touch and unable to provide leadership in one of the country's darkest hours.

Just over a week ago, the Taoiseach told the Dail with confidence that there would be "no blanket cover" for those already serving sentences for having sex with underage girls. It's not a case that people will walk free on this, he said just days before the High Court released the repulsive Mr A, who had plied a 12-year-old on a sleepover with his daughter with alcohol and raped her. Friday's rearrest of Mr A lets the Taoiseach off the hook, but it doesn't change the fact that in ignorance and arrogance he misled the nation.

The government rightly acted with urgency to draft new legislation to cover the loophole that had been exposed in the law.

But it doesn't change the fact that the Minister for Justice was woefully unprepared for the possibility of the Supreme Court judgement. This is despite the fact that this was signalled in the 1990 Law Reform Commission report and again in 2002 when the chief state solicitor informed the Department of Justice that a challenge to the law was underway. In July 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that the 'mistake as to age' defence could be used under this act. In October 2005, the Law Society Gazette said it signified a substantial change in Irish law and on 23 May 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that Section 1 (1) of the act was unconstutitional.

As people reeled at the prospect of child rapists being released, the Taoiseach headed to New York to deal with prior engagements. Back at the ranch, Tanaiste Mary Harney took Dail questions on the affair and proceeded to contradict the version of events presented by her PD colleague. The Minister for Justice placed the blame at the door of the DPP who he said never told him or the Attorney General that there might be a problem. It subsequently emerged that the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions had jointly represented the state in the Supreme Court case.

The government's spin was that the minister and the Attorney General had no personal knowledge of it. It is possible that these two men, intellectual giants in the legal arena, heading up departments of highly paid civil servants supposedly enacting just laws to protect the citizens of the state, did not know about this challenge. But surely they should have. Will they be reprimanded?

Unlikely. Will they apologise? Certainly not.

Is an inquiry planned? No.

Minister McDowell, the chief protagonist in the 'Nobody told us. We didn't know' defence to this debacle, was in fighting form by Thursday when he declared that he would not quit. By Friday, as Labour leader Pat Rabbitte pointed out, he mentioned the protection of children once in his Dail speech and spent the rest of the time protecting his own position.

And when the nation rails in future against the vigorous cross-examination of raped children thanks to the new 'honest mistake' defence, don't blame him either. He's Minister for Justice, he has introduced the legislation but, as he told us in no uncertain terms, he doesn't like it one bit.

The DPP, as ever, has not spoken, but up to recent weeks he continued to lay charges under the now defunct Section 1 (1) of the Act.

The Attorney General has referred in vague terms to a communications breakdown in his office.

This is despite the fact that specific checks were put in place in his office 10 years ago after warrants for the arrest of paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth languished there for seven months, and ultimately brought down Albert Reynolds' coalition. Will there be a consequence this time? Not likely.

And then there's the Taoiseach, who absented himself from the management of events and provided decidedly uninspirational leadership 3,000 miles away. From New York, he backed his Minister for Justice 100%. He went further and said the Minister, the Attorney General, the DPP and the Supreme Court itself could not be blamed for what happened. And for the record he's not to blame himself either.

Meanwhile, as a bewildered public rallied in support of rape victims, it was left to Enda Kenny to provide the only sign of leadership at all. Speaking from the heart, he articulated what the nation was feeling and the government could not seem to grasp. For the first time there was a glimpse of a strong leader in waiting.

The FF/PD government is out of trouble this time. But their public display of arrogance and self-preservation has damaged them. They ignored all the warning signs, they mismanaged the fall-out. They are off the hook, but woefully out of touch.