There may have been some soul-searching about constitutional change, but the west did not prove to be significantly out of step with the rest of the country in its support for the Belfast Agreement.
Any pockets of resistance tended to be more marked in the Amsterdam Treaty poll, but Republican Sinn Fein welcomed what it termed a significant No vote for the agreement in Patrick Pearse's Connemara heartland of Rosmuc.
Several participants at a special tribute to mark the first anniversary of the death of Dr Noel Browne expressed delight at the result, including the writer John McGahern, and the poet Rita Ann Higgins, who said it was "an overwhelming vote of hope".
However, this Government had been devious in running the Amsterdam Treaty referendum on the same date, she said. "We'll see the effects of it after the tulip-picking is past."
The Labour TD, Mr Michael D. Higgins, said he was very glad that people had voted so unequivocally for consent and against violence.
Mr Bob Quinn, film-maker and member of the RTE Authority, said that he had voted for the agreement, even though his natural reaction to a consensus was to vote against it.
The chief executive of the Western Development Commission, Mr Liam Scollan, noted that the Belfast Agreement owed its origins to a vision of what this country should be. If this was to be built upon now, there also had to be a vision about the economic future of the island, he added.
"People will have to work together, trade together, and both communities have said they want this. But if this is to be achieved, governments have to have a new vision of infrastructure that gives oxygen to that aspiration. So there is an issue about furthering the vision, about achieving something tangible on the ground."
Mr Michael Donnelly, lecturer in politics at NUI Galway, said he wasn't surprised at the result. "Obviously it's a resounding victory in the south and a crucial 70 plus per cent in the North.There is probably a variance of three to four per cent in the difference between the west and the national figures. It is a feature of referenda that conservative rural constituencies, apart from Galway West, don't vote in favour of radical change."
"It also seems as if the concern about Articles 2 and 3 seemed to evaporate. Even the Irish National Caucus didn't lead a crusade." Regarding the low turnout nationally, he said this reflected the lack of political debate, which was influenced by the McKenna and Coughlan judgements.
"In the abortion and divorce referendums, the turnout was above 60 per cent. Given the fact that you would expect there would be a great deal of enthusiasm about doing something positive about the North, this showed that either people felt it was a foregone conclusion or couldn't care less. There were no mitigating factors in terms of time and weather, so it is difficult to interpret it."
Overall, Republican Sinn Fein held its party vote locally and nationally but was "slightly disappointed" with the result, its spokesman said. He felt the result in Cornamona, north Galway, was "reasonable" and that the 49 per cent turnout in Galway West was a reflection of "apathy at the fact that a package was being railroaded through".