The tone of yesterday's meeting of Fine Gael was in marked contrast to the caucus nine days ago which deposed Mr John Bruton as leader after a tense seven hours.
The party emerged into the early afternoon sunshine looking quite delighted with their new leader, Mr Michael Noonan, who won the vote against Mr Enda Kenny by 44 votes to 28. Afterwards his campaign manager, Mr Paul Bradford, was asked what position he was expecting on the front bench. He replied jokingly that his first job "is to find the eight votes we were not expecting".
At the outset of the meeting which began at 11 a.m. the acting party leader, Ms Nora Owen, paid tribute to Mr Bruton, who received a standing ovation. Mr Bruton voted early and left around 11.30 a.m. because he had to travel to Rome for a conference of Christian Democrats International, of which he is vice-chairman.
It had been decided that, besides Mr Kenny and Mr Noonan, only the proposers and seconders would speak. Mayo deputy Mr Michael Ring proposed Mr Kenny and his constituency colleague, Mr Jim Higgins, seconded him.
Mr Noonan was proposed by Mr Charles Flanagan, party chief whip, and seconded by Dublin deputy, Ms Olivia Mitchell.
Mr Kenny spoke first for about 20 minutes and supporters described his speech as aspirational, while Mr Noonan's slightly longer speech was heavy on specifics concerning his plans for the party and the country.
The party chairman, Mr Phil Hogan, then asked members to go and vote in threes and within a half an hour the vote was known.
Mr Jim O'Keeffe, who supported Mr Noonan, described the meeting as civilised and dignified with Mr Noonan's speech a "tour de force". "I haven't seen this bounce in Fine Gael since Garret . . . Politics isn't just all about policies, it's about what's in here as well," he said, pointing to his heart.
A further four people told The Irish Times they had voted for Mr Noonan yesterday - Mr Simon Coveney, Mr Michael D'Arcy, Mr Billy Timmins and Mr Michael Creed - bringing the number of those who declared support for him to 27. Mr Maurice Manning said he voted for Mr Kenny, bringing his total of people declared to 13.