The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, yesterday held out the prospect of troops being removed permanently from the streets of Northern Ireland if paramilitary groups handed in their weapons.
In her keynote speech to the Labour conference in Blackpool, Dr Mowlam acknowledged that the weeks and months ahead were going to be tough. She urged those connected with the peace process to get "out of the old bunkers and move forward".
She said: "I want to see the troops off the streets - permanently. But I'm also determined to see that people in Northern Ireland feel as safe and secure as possible.
"That means paramilitary weapons must be decommissioned too. The independent commission is there, ready to oversee the process. It has to happen. The sooner the better."
Dr Mowlam, who on Tuesday received a standing ovation when the Prime Minister praised her in his speech, warned: "There are difficult days ahead, high hurdles still to climb. But we've come so far that I am confident there is no going back.
"The people of Northern Ireland have the will to succeed, a desire so strong you can feel it. They want their leaders to find a way through any difficulties. They have trod the path to peace and want no U-turns, no dead-ends."
Dr Mowlam, who got another standing ovation from cheering delegates at the end of her speech, pointed to all those who had made the peace agreement possible.
"Unionist, nationalist, loyalist and republican, all in the same room. That, for me, is what the process is all about. The process of change, the process of listening to others, the process of accommodation."
It was crucial that all aspects of the Good Friday agreement moved forward in parallel together.
Dr Mowlam said: "No one agrees with 100 per cent of it but everyone has to give a bit to make it work. It takes trust to get out of the old bunkers and move forward. "The next weeks and months are going to be crucial and they're going to be tough. We need to keep on making constant progress on all parts of the agreement."
A new Northern Ireland where basic civil rights were truly upheld was within sight, the Northern Ireland Secretary said.
"Everyone from now on has to accept only peaceful methods as the way forward. Together with the Irish Government, we are determined that anyone using violence to oppose the agreement will have no shelter from the law - on either side of the Border."
Dr Mowlam said: "The best way to fight terrorism is to make the agreement a success. There is no doubt that the threat from terrorism is getting less. The less the threat of violence, the more we can respond."
She insisted those who voted against the agreement had not been forgotten. A review of criminal injuries compensation had been launched earlier yesterday, she said.
It would give the victims of violence the chance to have their say on how the system worked and could work in the future.
In the conference debate, Belfast-born Ms Arlene McCarthy, MEP for the Peak District, told delegates the peace process meant that "never again" would youth in Northern Ireland have to make a choice between leaving their birthplace or staying behind with "insecurity and violence".
Dr Brian Gibbons, of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, said the campaign for peace had been the "crowning glory" of the first 18 months of the Labour government.
Winding up the debate, Mr Steve Pickering, for the NEC, said: "Words alone will never express the gratitude owed to Mo Mowlam, the Prime Minister and all the many people over so many years who have striven for peace and security in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic."
Mr Pickering said closing the debate was "the most important task" he had ever been given within the trade union and Labour movement. He undertook the honour "in memory of all who have gone before, for the hope of those alive today and the challenges of all for the future".