In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has called on the British government to ensure that its legislation on policing in Northern Ireland achieves the promised "new beginning" by implementing the recommendations of the Patten report.
In a wide-ranging speech, the Minister dwelt on the situation in the North, made a strong pitch for support in Ireland's bid to win a seat on the Security Council and stressed the need for urgent action to improve the UN's performance in peacekeeping.
He said the new institutions in the North were working well: Ministers in the Executive were "working constructively together"; the North-South Ministerial Council and its implementation bodies were "delivering tangible benefits"; and through the British-Irish Council, new relationships were being forged with, for example, the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales.
"We are firmly committed to ensuring that all other aspects of the agreement are implemented in full. Policing reform is a vital part of the new dispensation we are striving to create in Northern Ireland," he said.
"The agreement promised a new beginning in this area and the Patten report set out how it can be achieved. It is now crucially important that the legislative proposals, currently before parliament at Westminster, secure that outcome."
The agreement also contained extensive commitments on hum an rights and, in line with these, the Government was in the process of appointing members to an independent Human Rights Commission that would work closely with its counterpart in the North.
"We also need to see continued progress towards security and justice arrangements appropriate to a society in which peace will become the norm, and to see the question of arms resolved for all time. To this end, we have made great strides forward in recent months."
Noting that there were still small groups of dissidents on both sides prepared to use violence to bring down the agreement, the Minister said: "They have nothing to offer and they will not be allowed to succeed."
The cause of peace transcended all other challenges. "Our own experience in Ireland has taught us that there is no greater prize, no more difficult task and no greater satisfaction than to begin to heal the wounds of history and the scars of intolerance."
Too often the international community stood aside while the innocent suffered, Mr Cowen said.
The UN's capacity and commitment to fulfil its mandates needed to be strengthened. "I therefore strongly welcome the exercise of its authority by the UN in East Timor last year and more recently in Sierra Leone. It is our duty as governments to underpin that authority."
Ireland had participated in UN peacekeeping for more than 40 years. "We are proud of the contribution which our peacekeepers have made in so many areas of the world. At the same time, we deeply regret that 82 of our Irish soldiers have died in the service of the UN," Mr Cowen said.
Calling for an effective global ban on nuclear weapons, he said there had been welcome reductions in arsenals, "but defence strategies based on nuclear weapons continue to include the possible use, even the first use, of these weapons".
Mr Cowen concluded with a second reference to Ireland's aspiration for a seat on the Security Council, pointing out that it had not stood for election in 20 years.