Despite rejection, the abortion amendment was the right thing to putbefore the people, writes Bertie Ahern, who looks foward, as Fianna Fáil meets for its ardfheis, to the general election.
Before the last general election, I promised that if my party formed part of the new government, we would ensure that the people were given the opportunity to decide on the abortion laws of this country. The regular comments of large numbers of people throughout the country, as well as the regular questioning by this and other newspapers, reinforced the fact that action was required and that the people had the right to decide.
We wanted to avoid the type of divisive debates we have seen in the past. That's why we ran the most extensive public consultation process ever in Ireland.
Thousands of submissions were received from ordinary people and experts. The proposal which we put before the people was an honest reflection of what arose from that process.
My personal views on this issue are well known - they remain as firmly and sincerely held today as they were before. Like voters all across Ireland, I expressed those views with my ballot on Wednesday.
I also debated the issues at length in the five months following publication of the proposals and spoke about them in detail throughout the country.
But the people have spoken, and the people's voice is the final word in a democracy. It's now up to all parties to work together to study and understand the extremely close results and implications of this referendum, and to act.
One of the more important aspects of this process has been the provision, for the first time ever, of a dedicated service to support women who experience a crisis pregnancy.
I hope that the Crisis Pregnancy Agency will receive the support of all groups in moving forward quickly in its work.
In the run-up to the election, I look forward to people using the next few months as an opportunity to have a serious, balanced discussion about progress in this country: progress achieved, as well as progress still to be achieved.
I will be taking a very clear message to the people. At the end of this country's longest serving Government in over half a century, I believe our people have seen sustained progress on a series of vital national issues.
A lot has been achieved in five years, and we have an ambitious agenda to go further in the next five years.
I know the Opposition like to say that opportunities have been squandered and that things have never been worse.
But I don't believe the people will respond to the over-the-top negative attacks of which we are seeing so much.
A number of areas point to the clear evidence that opportunities have been fulfilled rather than squandered.
In June 1997 there was no ceasefire, and people often despaired about what could be done to achieve peace on this island. Nearly five years on, an historic peace agreement is in place and working, backed up by the overwhelming and freely-expressed support of people North and South. There is still much to be done, but this represents real progress.
In June 1997 Ireland was still experiencing what was known as "growth without jobs" and long-term unemployment was stubbornly high.
Since then, over 330,000 new jobs have been created and the biggest falls in unemployment rates have been seen among the long-term unemployed. This didn't happen by chance. Policy choices, in taxation policy, investment and training initiatives made the difference.
AND no matter what the Opposition might like to say, progress has been spread to many marginalised groups. We introduced our first national minimum wage, and set it at the top of the European scales. Our tax reductions mean that we now have the lowest tax on low pay of any country in the EU.
In relation to social welfare, we have implemented a series of the largest-ever increases in social welfare, with priority being given to pensioners and children.
If you take the Rainbow government's own definition of poverty, the record shows that 200,000 people were lifted out of poverty during the first half of our term. Later reports are likely to show a further improvement for the second half of our term.
In education, we replaced the Rainbow's 1997 policy of freezing schools funding and attempting to cut teacher numbers with a sustained increase in resources.
Direct primary school funding, for example, is now two-thirds higher and average class sizes have been reduced to their lowest ever level.
As well as these advances which are being seen already, we have also worked hard to put in place the long-term building blocks required to underpin continuing prosperity and progress.
The National Development Plan, for example, represents the first time that any Government has set out a comprehensive blueprint for developing our infrastructure. The National Pension Reserve represents an ambitious attempt to ensure that we are able to pay decent pensions well into the future and avoid the fiscal problems which could arise from the ageing of the population.
But there is clearly much more which needs to be done - no government could achieve everything in one term in office. That's why Fianna Fáil will be focused on the future at our ardfheis this weekend.
I will be talking about how our country can't just sit back, there is still a lot of work to be done to protect and build upon the peace, prosperity and progress which we have seen in recent years.
I will be talking about how we must redouble our efforts to build lasting peace and reconciliation between all communities on this island.
This doesn't just mean permanently silencing the guns, but tackling the mistrust and division which are still too often found on this island.
We also have to make sure that our fiscal and economic policies are responsible and don't involve return to the failed policies of the past.
I believe that in the years ahead we will be able to achieve much- needed progress in important areas.
I want to build upon the 50 per cent increase in pensions which we have implemented, setting a new, higher, benchmark. I also believe that we must maintain the National Pension Reserve, not undermine it as others have proposed.
In health, I want to implement our vision for a world-class public health service, involving a programme of investment and reform which will, among many other things, quickly reduce and then permanently end waiting lists.
Over the next two days, we will be talking about these issues, and the many more which come together to represent our agenda for the future.
As the largest party in this country, with over 50,000 members and active units in every part of the country, we will be taking our message directly to the people.
We will do so positively and with a sense that the progress our country has seen in the last five years can, with balanced and responsive policies, go even further.
Bertie Ahern is Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil