No one has the right to say the Belfast Agreement has failed or that they have done enough and can do no more, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
In his first ardfheis address as Minister at that Department, Mr Cowen told the delegates that more risks had to be taken to secure the peace and progress of the agreement. No one "has the right to say the agreement is in tatters", an apparent reference to comments last week by the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams.
Mr Cowen told his audience at the RDS in Dublin that he was a republican of the new generation and it "is the duty of this generation to put to rest the last great conflict on this island".
He was responding to a debate during which delegates passed a number of Northern Ireland motions, including a commendation of the Government's handling of the peace process, an appeal for continual dialogue between the two traditions and a call for Government support for efforts to establish the truth behind the mur ders of the two Northern Ireland solicitors, Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.
Mr Cowen said the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement and the restoration of the institutions was the key to stability and reconciliation. Political leaders were bound "by a sacred democratic duty" to implement the will of the people of the island who voted overwhelmingly for the agreement.
That was what political leadership was about, he said. It was why "so many republicans and unionists have taken so many risks in the recent past, why more risks must be undertaken to ensure the peace and progress of the Good Friday agreement. Without such risks, there will be no progress."
The Government was opposed to suspending the institutions but they had to now find a way for ward. "The narrow ground of decommissioning and devolution has been intensely worked over for the best part of two years, including during the Mitchell review. Some parties may believe that there's nothing left for them to say or to do. I understand such a belief, but I don't share it and I don't think they should either."
It was the entitlement of each side to have its perceptions taken seriously and respected by the other. "This means specifically that the issue of arms and of the legacy of conflict they represent has to be resolved to the satisfaction of all sides."
The "primacy of politics" should be secured and that had to involve putting weapons beyond use, "but the issue of decommissioning, while of course important in itself, is even more, a means of building confidence".
He said the Belfast Agreement was "the people's agreement", not the property of one group.
"It is not an open menu, an ala-carte selection where one group can pick what it likes and reject the rest. It is not about coercion and threats, private agendas and public pretenses, dead lines and denials. No one has the right to tailor their participation according to the narrow tastes of the few."