The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has called on unionists and republicans to move to resolve the current difficulties in the peace process, while urging the public and civic society to press them to do so.
In a major speech on Northern Ireland to the Seanad yesterday, he warned that any resolution of the difficulties in the peace process must ensure that the unionist tactic of blocking Sinn Fein ministers from attending meetings cannot be deployed again.
Mr Cowen also called on republicans "to acknowledge that there is a deficit in unionist confidence that must be addressed if they, too, are to achieve all that the agreement offers them". He called on the IRA to enter discussions with the de Chastelain commission on weapons. He suggested there was scope for progress on decommissioning through seeking new proposals for specific schemes to deal with weapons. The two governments had already suggested this, he said, and he believed "substantial progress on resolving the question of arms can be made through dialogue" on this idea.
Mr Cowen also acknowledged that there had been several significant improvements to the Northern Ireland Police Bill since he described it as "deficient in many respects" in May. Noting that the SDLP and Sinn Fein had not rejected the final Bill, he called on the British government to show sensitivity to their concerns in the implementation of police reform and its wider attitudes.
Referring to police reform, he said: "Without that nationalist support, it simply cannot succeed. We must continue to work to ensure that it does." He called on the public "to reassert their sense of ownership of the agreement and to make their voices heard". Civic society needed to be more vocal and active in support for the agreement.
Calling for movement from both unionists and republicans, Mr Cowen described as "misconceived" Mr David Trimble's refusal to nominate Sinn Fein ministers to attend North-South meetings, warning it would not help achieve decommissioning.
The unionist tactic involved "the advancement of one party's interpretation of the agreement and . . . the satisfaction of one party's demands", he said.
"No one party is entitled to compromise the successful operation of the institutions and to put a block on progress to resolve difficulties that lie elsewhere".
He shared the UUP's desire to see arms put fully and verifiably beyond use but this desire could "best be addressed in the context of fully working institutions - and that means Sinn Fein ministers participating in meetings on exactly the same basis as their ministerial colleagues".
In relation to the IRA, he said it had promised to re-engage with the de Chastelain commission, but that had only taken place in a very limited way. However, it also promised that it would enter into discussions with the commission on the basis of the IRA leadership's commitment to resolving the issue of arms. "We now need to see that level of truly meaningful engagement taking place."
Referring to the IRA's statement that it would resume discussions with the de Chastelain commission only when it was satisfied that the peace process would be advanced by such discussions, he said: "It is clear to me that the process will always be advanced by such discussions."