At 6pm last Friday there was an air of uncertainty in the Midlands that voters would come to the polls to be part of the historic decisions which were being made.
Polling had been slow in the three constituencies which make up the Midland counties but by the time the votes were counted on Saturday evening, the overall turnout was respectable.
Around 54 per cent of the 196,000 voters in the three constituencies voted to end the territorial claim on the North endorse the Amsterdam Treaty.
The combined total of the No vote in the counties, came to 6,306, a figure in line with the national average.
The Tullamore-based Minister for Health, Mr Brian Cowen, expressed delight at the outcome of the vote and said it carried a strong message to those who wanted to indulge in violence.
"The vote has shown that violence has no part in Irish politics from now on and it must be clear to those who want to continue with the myth that there is no justification for it. There were those in the past who claimed they had some sort of mandate for carrying out acts of violence. That was never justified, but now the people have demonstrated that violence is not part of the political future."
Mr Cowen said the time had come for real politics to begin.
"Those seeking unity could attempt to persuade those against it in a political way. Equally unionists could seek to persuade nationalists that the union was the way forward," he added.
The Leader of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr Tom Parlon, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the outcome of the voting which he described as uplifting.
"I know we can all be cynical but there is no doubting the strength of feeling behind the Northern vote. The goodwill we will gain from this internationally, will be incredible."
The outcome was also welcomed by Fine Gael Laois-Offally, TD, Mr Charlie Flanagan, who described the outcome as a "momentous change" and a valid exercise in self-determination.
However, the sense of history seems to have passed at least one Midlander. His abusive letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, somehow turned up during the counting of votes from Offaly in St Mary's Hall, Portlaoise, on Saturday night and it was neither the North or Amsterdam, he was concerned with but why he had to wait so long to get into hospital.