It will take more than defeat on abortion to dent hopes at the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis of a return to government, reports Mark Brennock, Political Correspondent
The Taoiseach hadn't intended to host his party's pre-election rally with the sound of the Opposition crowing over his second referendum defeat still audible off-stage.
But Mr Ahern's Teflon coating has withstood much greater battering since he became Taoiseach in 1997; on past form, he may escape relatively undamaged from the referendum fiasco.
It was supposed to be a weekend of quiet and dignified triumph.
A victory on abortion would have had the more than 4,000 Fianna Fáil troops at Citywest this weekend in celebratory mood. The Taoiseach could have hailed a promise delivered, a thorny issue dealt with and an Opposition routed with less than nine weeks to go to the expected election date.
And with polls suggesting Fianna Fáil might need just a little help from outside the party to return to Government, activists could have taken heart from the knowledge that the four pro-government, pro-referendum independents were sleeping happily in their beds.
But it was not to be, and despite the defeat, the show will go on. The ardfheis will give the party an opportunity to highlight its successes before a campaign in which the Taoiseach's Teflon will be tested by a number of issues.
The deteriorating exchequer finances will raise campaign questions over how the health strategy and national development plan will be paid for, after five years spent cutting the capacity to earn tax revenues when the economy isn't achieving record growth levels.
There is the puzzling business about the contract for the Abbotstown aquatic centre that the Opposition is working to tie the Government into.
And there is the concern that some of the Dublin liberals who came out to vote down the Taoiseach's abortion amendment might not have finished with him yet.
But the party will move quickly this weekend to shift the political agenda on to other issues and will shine a bright spotlight on what it sees as its main successes in Government.
The Taoiseach's special adviser, Dr Martin Mansergh, writes in the ardfheis programme that the Government has been in many ways "the most spectacularly successful Government in the history of the State".
The Taoiseach was only a little more modest in his opening speech last night, calling it "the finest Fianna Fáil-led partnership Government ever".
The Taoiseach is expected to refer at the weekend to the referendum as an honest attempt to deal with a difficult issue after six years of exhaustive consultations, and to suggest again that it is time to "reflect".
But with that out of the way, he will devote most of tonight's hour-long speech to wider, national projects, in particular his party's project of seeking a second consecutive term in government.
His keynote address is likely to place Fianna Fáil where all Government parties seeking re-election want to be seen: not coming to the end of a particular political programme but halfway through one, requiring a second term to see it through.
There will be much recounting of impressive economic figures, reviewing of progress in Northern Ireland and the production of plans to develop infrastructure and improve the health services.
But while the plans are there, he will pledge to implement them after the election. No matter that they had five years to do this already. As he wrote in this newspaper yesterday: "There is clearly much more which needs to be done, no Government could achieve everything in one term of office."
The party will use the free hour of prime-time television provided by RTÉ tonight to showcase some of its new candidates.
Very few people watched the traditional hour-long broadcasts of the leaders' speeches to the recent Fine Gael and PD conferences.
In an attempt to liven up theirs, Ministers Michael Martin, Dermot Ahern and Mary O'Rourke will introduce video inserts which will feature these candidates "and will also feature Fianna Fáil's political objectives, and the work of An Taoiseach".
The ardfheis itself is the usual parody of a policy-making congress, seen for the most part at Fine Gael and PD conferences as well. Occasionally at these conferences, delegates vote unexpectedly in a manner that irritates the leadership on some issue, but in the main, delegates plough through bland, self-congratulatory stuff to a poorly attended hall.
The venue will be packed for the Taoiseach's speech, but for most of those attending, this is a social event, and for those with ambitions an opportunity to network.
For the party leadership, it is an opportunity to project the party in a positive light to voters who will decide in two months time whether the longest serving Government in peacetime deserves to be re-elected.