There is no gainsaying it. Bertie Ahern's achievement is awesome. In some ways it exceeds that of Eamon de Valera, who also held office for three terms, because he had to do so without ever having an overall majority for Fianna Fáil. Charles Haughey, who died a year ago, sold out on Fianna Fail's core value - majority government - and his successor, Mr Ahern, has since crafted coalitions to suit the mood of the electorate of the day.
There can be no denying that Mr Ahern has brought politics to a fine art. Fashioning a Dáil majority of 13 votes for a Fianna Fáil-led, three-party coalition Government was a remarkable achievement. It feeds the desire for a change in government. How he uses that majority will shape society and the future economic and social well- being of our people.
The formation of a new government is an exciting event. It provides voters with hard evidence that democracy works while allocating the spoils of office to the successful parties. It also reflects the values and political ambitions of the Taoiseach of the day. In choosing his Ministers, Mr Ahern accorded pride of place to continuation and political stability, giving the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats the challenging portfolios they desired. True to character, he made minimal change among Fianna Fáil Ministers.
Entering on his final period in government, some people had expected a more adventurous approach to the make-up of his Cabinet. We got many of the same well-known Fianna Fáil faces, most of them in their old jobs. When changes were made, they seemed to be based on necessity and seniority, rather than ability. An offer to review the Cabinet composition in two or three years time may, eventually, fall to the man he nominated as Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen.
There were some frissons, however. Mary Harney was re-appointed to the Department of Health and Children to complete unpopular, unfinished business. John Gormley received Environment and Local Government and Eamon Ryan got Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. These are sensitive portfolios, allocated as the price of stable government. They are also likely to become lightning conductors of public dissatisfaction.
There will be a general welcome for the appointment of Brian Lenihan as Minister for Justice, the only new Fianna Fáil face in the Cabinet whose time should have come earlier. His work on the rights of children will probably shape the Government's approach to a promised early referendum. But the wave of reform in the criminal justice system may have passed.
Space needed for Green Party Ministers was made by appointing John O'Donoghue Ceann Comhairle and demoting Dick Roche. What Mr Ahern has achieved, with his new rainbow coalition, supported by Independents, is the change in the composition of the government so desired by voters. He has removed the jaded, arrogant image away from his old cabinet.