Mrs Mary McAleese must be congratulated on being re-elected as President. Her contribution - and that of her husband, Martin - in reaching out to members of the unionist community in Northern Ireland has been an important input to the peace process that went largely unsung. She has represented the Office of President with distinction at home and national pride abroad.
The role of President is tightly circumscribed. She has no executive powers. Comment on contentious public and political issues must be cleared with the Government. Still, the first term of Mrs McAleese in office has been marked by distinguishing features. She has worked hard at building bridges, healing old divisions: attending a memorial service for Ireland's first World War dead in Flanders; taking communion at Christ Church Cathedral and attending the funeral service for the British Queen Mother. As Head of State and guardian of the Constitution, she has earned a particular affection in the hearts of people, even those who would not have voted for her seven years ago.
The absence of an election on this occasion, even though the outcome would have been the same, was unfortunate. Elections are the lifeblood of democracy - and President McAleese herself had hoped for a contest. Such a renewal of her mandate would have strengthened her position while also providing a useful platform for public debate on the choices open to Irish society in future years.
The opposition parties decided they could not win a presidential election against her. And they ensured one was not held. Such considerations, as we have seen in recent weeks, devalue the office. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution recommended in 1998 that the nomination process should be reformed. It recommended that a petition signed by 10,000 citizens and less county councils should guarantee a nomination.
President McAleese was invited nearly five years ago - for the first and only time - to address both Houses of the Oireachtas on her hopes for Irish society as it moved into the new millennium.
In the absence of an election, the Government should renew that invitation and provide her with a platform to put forward her vision of Ireland for the next seven years. She was a certainty in an election but she should not be denied a platform to express her aspirations for the people of Ireland.
At the same time, this presidential election has highlighted the need for the nomination process to be taken out of the exclusive hands of elected politicians. The campaign has raised many questions, not least the issue of whether a suitably high number of citizens - maybe 100,000 - should have the right to nominate a national candidate. The debate involving the process of nomination should not be allowed to become academic for another seven years.