What a personal and political triumph for Bertie Ahern. He has won a third term as Taoiseach in the hardest fought and most volatile general election campaign in recent history. He has placed Fianna Fáil in an unassailable position to form the next government and, in so doing, demolished the expectations of all the smaller parties in the Dáil.
The people made their choice between the alternative governments on offer and the silent majority, in the end, voted for no change. After a decade of the prosperity of the Celtic Tiger, they feared that it could all be thrown away. It would appear that this was the defining issue in the election.
Fine Gael is likely to recover most of the seats lost in 2002. The party has performed very well. Its leader, Enda Kenny, fought an energetic campaign. But the electorate emphatically rejected the alternative alliance for change which it offered with the Labour Party.
The smaller parties failed to make the gains they had expected and, in some cases, lost seats. They were swept aside by the powerful campaigns waged by the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael machines. The Labour Party struggled to stem losses and was squeezed by the strength of the bigger parties. The Green Party and Sinn Féin failed to make the breakthroughs which they had anticipated. Independents and left-wing candidates suffered most when the major parties sucked votes towards the centre. Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party was a notable casualty.There will be postmortems for weeks to come.
The Progressive Democrats experienced the greatest difficulties in the campaign, however, failing to convince the voters of their central importance in holding Fianna Fáil to account within government. Yet, the party may still form part of the next government when the Dáil meets on June 14th. What a cruel irony that the leader who invented the slogan that summarised the mood of this election, Michael McDowell, has lost his seat. He will be a loss to the Dáil and to public life.
The full implications of the election result will emerge over the weekend.The public was offered change by Fine Gael and the Labour Party in a campaign that concentrated on health policy, public services and quality of life issues. The differences to emerge in the two sets of leaders' debates a week away from polling, however, forced voters to opt for stability and certainty in the end.
In opting for political stability and economic security, the electorate has placed Mr Ahern and Fianna Fáil in a commanding position to form a new government. The precise nature of that government is unclear at the time of writing. The composition of the 30th Dáil has yet to be decided as counting continued at various centres early this morning. But there is no doubt that the public has strongly indicated the broad direction of that government and the policies it should pursue.
In rugby terms, this was one against the head for the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil and deserving of due credit.