The President, Mrs Mary McAleese, today called for an end to the tradition of armed struggle in Northern Ireland, and for "utter fidelity to the vision at the heart" of the Belfast Agreement.
Mrs McAleese was speaking during a visit to St Malachy's College, Belfast, where she delivered the O'Connell Lecture. The annual lecture celebrates the life of the great Irish humanitarian and statesman Daniel O'Connell, also known as the Liberator of Ireland.
President Mary McAleese
"O'Connell's greatest monument is the foundation he laid a long, long time ago for the peace process of today and, in essence, the Good Friday Agreement. His has been a towering influence in moulding the tradition of moderate, non-violent and democratic politics and in robustly challenging that other tradition which used violence for political ends," she said.
'The massive majority North and South who democratically endorsed the (Good Friday) Agreement saw it as an honourable, if difficult compromise and a very precious gift of peace to future generations. The rolling-out of the Agreement has been slow and, at times, stormy - as one might expect given the extent of long-held mistrusts and fears - but it has shown a remarkable robustness, weathering many difficulties.
"Now it faces that difficult period of clear disconnect between past and future, when old patterns of thinking and acting must give way completely to new ones that are intrinsically and unambiguously peaceful, lawful and egalitarian in their concept and conduct.
"This is the time for courage rather than chaos, for focus rather than foment. This is the time to exhibit utter fidelity to the vision at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement and, as it happens, at the heart of O'Connell's vision too."
"It is time to close the door on the tradition of armed struggle, to bring a dignified and principled end to the debate started by Daniel O'Connell. It is time to make a hope-filled, humanly decent start to the shared future that is the unarguable entitlement of the next generation," she said.
Mrs McAleese was making her first visit to the North since she made comments that appeared to compare Nazi hatred of Jews to the way in which Protestant parents had engendered a distrust for Catholics in their children.
During her one-day trip, she visited City Hospital, Hannahstown Community Centre in Belfast and St Malachy's College.
She pulled out of plans to visit a primary school on the Shankill Road today amid fears that her presence would spark protests. Although she apologised for the remarks, such was the strength of unionist reaction there was concern that a visit to the Shankill today could trigger protests despite the work in which she and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, have been engaged in.
Unionist politicians and loyalist community activists had advised the President to postpone the visit to the loyalist area.
However, a leading loyalist today said that the President would be welcome back to the Shankill. Ulster Defence Association Commander Jackie McDonald moved to defuse tensions about Mrs McAleese's visit to her native city.
The UDA leader said she had put a lot of work into reaching out to the loyalist and Protestant community who had taken offence at her comments. "I know, no matter what she said or whatever way it was taken, it wasn't meant that way," he said. "She has put an awful lot of hard work into what she is doing and she will continue to do so and I will 100% support her."