Confidence in the Belfast Agreement had dissipated as a result of the "stand-offs and stunts" which have marred its implementation, the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said yesterday.
However, while the agreement now faced "difficulty and danger", it still offered the best way forward, the North's Deputy First Minister said.
Speaking at Béal na mBlath in Co Cork at a commemoration service to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of Michael Collins, Mr Durkan said that people had lost some confidence in the capacity of parties and governments to live up to the agreement's requirements and thus fulfil its potential.
But he urged people not to have less confidence in the potential and value they had invested in the agreement when they voted for it in 1998.
"We must also recognise that, when allowed to work, the institutions serve well, with parties being able to contribute helpfully and deliver positively."
Given all the frustration and suspicion, it was too easy to overlook the many positive achievements and experiences which the agreement had brought.
"New ground has been broken and common ground is being made in a range of sectoral, public-service and policy areas in all three strands. We need to do more to highlight such gains and not just the strains."
Mr Durkan said it was important to allay concerns about what might lie beyond the agreement, including fears of sectarian attacks on vulnerable communities.
Michael Collins's vision of Ireland's democratic potential had a resonance which was still valid, he said. "All of us can carry forward the vision and approach he articulated for this country. Not by revisiting or revising what might have been in his generation, but by realising what can be in our own."
Mr Durkan called on all the pro-agreement parties to renew the Declaration of Support which prefaced the agreement.
Not unlike Michael Collins and his colleagues, who had established the Garda Síochána, the SDLP had grasped the nettle of promoting civil policing for all citizens even in the midst of uncertainty and continuing violence.
"We took our seats on the inclusive Policing Board on the basis of what was in train from Patten and the specific commitments to amend the legislation which, with the Irish Government, we secured from the British government at Weston Park," he said.
"We have, with others, made that board work. The British government must now make good on those commitments in proper order."
Mr Durkan said that he wanted to see the North/South Parliamentary Forum established. This would bring together all of the parties in all parts of Ireland.