The biggest winners in last week's elections and referendum were the people. Their vote went up 10 per cent, from 50 per cent to 60 per cent, writes Martin Mansergh.
Higher turnout is far the best way of ensuring that political parties pay attention to the needs of everyone, not just those most likely to vote.
Credit for stimulating higher turnout can be divided between the number of decisions voters had to make, using three or four ballot papers, and a greater media interest than previously. Holding a successful referendum (and no one anticipated a 79 per cent Yes vote) had no influence on party support in the local and European elections. There was no dividend for Government parties, arguably the reverse.
Many good and idealistic people against the referendum are deeply upset at the scale of defeat, feeling it must incorporate some anti-immigrant sentiment, difficult to quantify. The issue was what element of citizenship law should be constitutionally entrenched.
For 60 years up to 1998, the answer was none. The only reason it changed was because of the Belfast Agreement, and nationalists' need for guaranteed entitlement to nationality and citizenship for Northerners, in compensation for modification of Articles 2 and 3.
There is nothing to prevent a reformed citizenship law from being just, generous and humane.
In the case of abortion, the liberal argument was that it was too complex an issue to resolve in the Constitution. That is certainly the case with many aspects of citizenship.
Five European Parliament seats were a major achievement for Fine Gael, a party committed to and enthusiastic about Europe. Peter Cassells could have contributed much, and Avril Doyle, who gave an impressive account in the Seanad of her work, was lucky to win a second seat, given her earlier insistence that there was only one.
Five of the 13 MEPs are women, a gender missing from the Fianna Fáil line-up. Eoin Ryan's election was well-deserved, but intense competition for a reduced number of seats, a lower vote share and lack of teamwork saw the loss of Gerry Collins.
A long-serving and distinguished ex-minister for foreign affairs and justice, he provided first-class leadership to the Fianna Fáil group of MEPs over two terms. Seán Ó Neachtain turned to advantage perceived victimisation by HQ to win a seat.
Whereas in other countries, notably Britain, the number of Eurosceptic MEPs increased, here Patricia McKenna and Dana lost their seats.
Prominent anti-Nice campaigners and anti-war activists, Justin Barrett for Europe, Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance, and Richard Boyd-Barrett of the Socialist Workers' Party, both seeking council seats in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, failed to be elected. Sinn Féin won a seat in Dublin, and may, now that it has to engage with Europe, soften its sceptical position.
Northern Ireland will not have a single pro-European MEP. The leader of the UK Independence Party Robert Kilroy-Silk was notorious in his newspaper column for his outlandish attitudes to Ireland as well as Europe.
Prior to the local elections, the loss of 50 of the Fianna Fáil 386 council seats would have been deemed a mid-term setback. A loss of 100 was considered a disaster. In the event, losses were nearer the upper end.
An estimated 300 seats, with Fine Gael close behind and the lowest vote since the 1920s represented a palpable shock, even though the British and German governing parties fared worse. It was 32 per cent, not the 29 per cent of the last Red-C Sunday Business Post opinion poll. The damage was greater in the cities and some large towns.
An alternative to the present Government is becoming more credible, with Fine Gael the largest party, Labour remaining round 11 per cent, and the influence of the Greens diminished, despite modest council gains. Enda Kenny, like Bertie Ahern when leader of the opposition, has been underestimated.
Extrapolating to a general election, formidable Fianna Fáil vote-getters at national level will be back, and people will be choosing a government. A party in power as long as Fianna Fáil since 1987 (with one interlude) will find the bar set higher, but Bertie Ahern, with time to be fully focused, is an awesome campaigner and political organiser.
Over the past two years, everything has been subordinated to ensuring that the economy, jobs and living standards stayed on track. The price is public irritation at perceived disingenuousness at election time, and at high-profile promises showing no sign of being fulfilled.
While much is being done, and the amount of progress not always appreciated, the insufficiency of affordable housing for young people; the need to set up the refurbishment and maintenance of run-down estates; persistent anti-social behaviour; a number of school buildings still in poor condition; still inadequate provision for disability; too many newly-built but idle hospital wards; not obviously necessary welfare cuts; maintenance of community employment schemes; countrywide impatience for better transport and roads; a desire not to be over-regulated; and exasperation with instances of indecision, incompetence, tax evasion, commercial rule-bending, and the intermittent unravelling at astronomical cost of past corruption; the diplomatic tightrope on Iraq; these would be some of the reasons the Government partners experienced a backlash.
There is debate between those who want to intensify a competitive neo-liberal course, and those who want to concentrate on social priorities. Public service is as important a value as competition. Those seeking greater efficiency in the delivery of public services need to consider the point of view of recipients as well as providers. The case for a public radiotherapy unit in Waterford rests on the fact that, while high throughput may be efficient for a Dublin hospital, it is not efficient for a sick patient to spend whole days being driven from and back to the south-east.
Sinn Féin benefited from being the centre even of adverse attention. Constitutional consolidation of a once belligerent republicanism is welcome, provided active paramilitarism is shed. Once that happens, all options are open. From the beginning, the peace process was about the vindication of Irish democracy, not its subversion.