Northern Ireland's politicians will be faced with the choice of either seizing the opportunity to build on the Belfast Agreement or risking peace and stability, the SDLP have warned.
Employment and learning minister Mr Sean Farren claimed ahead of a series of meetings in Dublin with political parties that the package of peace process proposals by the British and Irish governments presented a challenge to the North's politicians.
"Either we seize the opportunity to build on the Good Friday Agreement or we risk not only the Agreement but any early prospect of achieving lasting peace, political stability and economic progress, he said."
"The North-South Ministerial Council and the implementation bodies which have brought about such benefits to this island in many areas including trade, tourism and education are undoubtedly at risk,'' he continued.
Mr Farren will head an SDLP delegation meeting Fianna Fail, the Progressive Democrats, Fine Gael and Labour.
But as the governments prepared to present the parties with the final package, there were warnings from unionists that they would not stomach anything which did not force the IRA to decommission its weapons.
Ulster Unionist minister Sir Reg Empey insisted the UUP was "not prepared to allow Sinn Fein to continue as Executive ministers while the IRA continues to break its public promise to decommission its weaponry".
The minister also said his party would not tolerate further concessions on policing which reduced the service's operational capability.
Sinn Fein MLA Mr Gerry Kelly, who will lead a delegation of nationalists affected by recent riots in north Belfast to a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said republicans were hoping the package would bridge the gap from what was discussed at the Weston Park talks and the Agreement.
"When I left Weston House, I was not encouraged to believe that there would be the substantial jump that needs to be taken to bring it into line with the requirements of the Good Friday Agreement," Mr Kelly said."That gap has to be bridged.''
PA