SUDDENLY it's like the lead-in to the 2002 general election all over again. Fianna Failers are cock-a-hoop with positive opinion poll results, while Fine Gaelers are wondering what they ever did to deserve perpetual purgatory on the political scrap heap. And, as last week's surprise announcement about a referendum on children's rights showed, Bertie Ahern is now replicating the plan that worked so successfully in the first half of 2002. Last time, it was an abortion referendum. Now there's to be a constitutional poll on children's rights. There is little party politics at stake here, and few people will engage with an exercise that will be difficult to oppose. This is Mom and apple pie territory. In fact, the motivation behind the government's decision to embark on this constitutional poll at this time is deeply cynical. If Bertie Ahern was genuine about children's rights, then his government would open the purse strings on educational facilities, public play areas and so forth.

No, this referendum serves another purpose altogether. The campaign . . . which will be largely government run . . .

will in effect be a trial for the Fianna Fail general election campaign. The referendum will be the political equivalent of a preseason soccer friendly. Held 12 weeks or so before the general election poll, it will provide an opportunity for the Fianna Fail troops to get onto the doorsteps. "Hello there. Here's a leaflet about the referendum. And, by the way, we'll be back in a few weeks for the general election. You know X is running. You won't forget us now." The party hierarchy can see which constituency organisations are working well and how various new candidates perform in local radio debates. It's the 2002 strategy all over again, and the children of Ireland are being used.

Still, if we are to have a referendum early next year, two other constitutional amendments should be added to the agenda. First, let's bring the definition of women's role in Irish society into the real world of 21st-century Ireland. As the constitution currently reads: "the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home."

A simple deletion of the relevant sections of the outdated and offensive Article 41 would do the trick. It would also be good to acknowledge that this is now an increasingly secular and multi-cultural society, a contemporary reality that is at odds with the constitution's preamble that begins "In the Name of the Most Holy Trinityf" Such wording is more at home in a church than in the people's constitution. Two decades after proposing to take God out of Bunreacht na hEireann, Michael McDowell now has an opportunity to do just that.

THE US mid-term elections once more showed the increasingly important role of the internet as a campaign resource, with blogs and websites being used to promote and kill-off candidates in equal measure. The main parties here are still somewhat behind the curve in terms of web-based campaigning, but one Fine Gael candidate has shown the potential of what is possible. Jim O'Leary (left), who's running in Dublin South, has just upgraded his website to open with a very nifty video presentation.

It is worth a look at www. jimoleary. org, and whatever about the slogan . . . 'A vote for the future not for the past' . . .

it will be interesting to see how many other candidates follow O'Leary in embracing the new technology.

We're up to our necks, he's up to his old tricks

MORE huffing and puffing last week from the Central Bank about the property market and the level of personal and property debt. This now annual exercise has become somewhat tedious, as the mandarins in Dame Street do have the ability to influence the lending activities of the commercial banks.

But it seems nobody in the lending departments is paying one bit of notice to their regulatory bosses.

A case for less talk and more action. It was all so different 40 years ago, as shown in a new research paper by Ella Kavanagh from the Economics Department at University College Cork.

Minutes from a Central Bank meeting in April 1968 note that the bank's governor was concerned about "the level of public expenditure, the ability of the economy to accept injections of the order proposed and the ability of the banks to finance the private sector".

There were also worries about "inflationary tendencies".

Unlike today, it seems the commercial banks took notice of what the Central Bank Governor said, and they duly adjusted their borrowing rates. The current governor John Hurley should read the bank's archives before his next press conferenece.