So Election 2002 is for all practical purposes over with the results of the final counts in the Seanad last night. The transformation in the composition of the Dail has been replicated, albeit to a lesser degree, in the Seanad. There are many new members.
And the announcement of the Taoiseach's eleven nominees - four of whom will be Progressive Democrats - will complete the parliamentary picture next week.
The personnel changes in the composition of the new Seanad should make it more political, than vocational, in character. The biggest is the high-profile Fine Gael presence in the chamber. Having suffered meltdown in the Dail in the general election with the loss of 23 seats, the party put a deliberate policy in place to have as many aspirant TDs as possible elected to the Seanad. That strategy has largely succeeded - even if it is at the high cost of removing their long-standing avuncular leader and academic, Mr Maurice Manning, from parliamentary politics.
Some leading members of the former Fine Gael front bench, such as Mr Jim Higgins, Mr Brian Hayes, and Mr Paul Bradford, are elected to the Upper House. Ms Frances Fitzgerald and Ms Deirdre Clune did not make it. The combination of defeated TDs, like Mr Michael Finucane and Mr Ulick Burke, and younger aspirant TDs, like Mr Fergal Browne and Mr Noel Coonan, elected in the last few days should improve the party's prospects of staging a Dail come-back in the future.
There are some interesting new faces too in the other parties. Dr Martin Mansergh, adviser on Northern Ireland to three Fianna Fail taoisigh, has made the transition from public servant to public representative. The family tradition in politics is maintained by the election of Senator John Hanafin and Senator Marc MacSharry. Former Labour spokesman on Finance, Mr Derek McDowell, has found a new base. There are no changes in the university representation.
The first task of the new Seanad when it meets in the autumn will be the election of a Cathaoirleach. The former Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms Mary O'Rourke, tipped to get a Taoiseach's nomination, is favourite for the position.
Whoever is elected, however, there is one extraordinary feature of this general election which will produce a dynamic of its own. The balance of power in the new Dail has changed utterly with the infusion of Sinn Fein, the Green Party and many Independents. The new Seanad, on the other hand, reflects the old political establishment. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and Labour took all of the seats on the vocational panels and the only independent voices come from the universities. That outcome, in itself, presents a powerful argument for reform because the representative character of the Seanad is miniscule.