A PASSIONATE appeal to the entire republican movement "to stop thinking in terms of threats and start thinking in terms of peaceful persuasion" was the central theme of the Taoiseach's presidential address to the Fine Gael Ardfheis.
Mr Bruton delivered a hard message to the IRA about the opportunities lost during the ceasefire, claiming the failure of the republican movement to follow the logic of the peace process was fundamental to its breakdown.
He also said nothing would have been sacrificed by unionists if they had talked directly to Sinn Fein during those 18 months. Indeed, unionists, would have gained a moral advantage from it.
In his first presidential address to an ardfheis as Taoiseach, Mr Bruton presented the diversity of the three parties in the current Coalition as "a strength and not a weakness".
Almost 4,000 delegates who packed the RDS in Dublin made it Fine Gael's most successful ardfheis since it was last in government, nine years ago.
Politicians and members ensured that a mood of celebration permeated their weekend activities and the only awkward question posed privately by delegates was where Fine Gael would be after the next general election.
The Taoiseach referred to "the great privilege for me and the whole parliamentary party" of having come into Government in the way that they did.
He said, in an RTE interview, that the Government would present a common position on neutrality in the forthcoming White Paper on Foreign Policy. The question had been approached on the basis of compromise within the Government.
A sense of pride that Fine Gael, unlike Fianna Fail, understood how partnership governments worked was hammered home to delegates, almost as a strategy for the next election.
He paid handsome tributes to Mr Spring and Mr De Rossa as "outstanding colleagues. They have supported me in my work. I support them in theirs".
The last two governments collapsed because the main opposition party did not understand how partnerships worked, Mr Bruton said in his presidential address.
Fine Gael, as the largest of the three parties in this Government, did recognise that it had the first responsibility to promote unity and cohesion, and to ensure that all had full ownership in the work of Government.
It was because Fine Gael understood the dynamics of coalition government that this was probably one of the most stable governments the country had ever had.
The building of a genuine sense of community in Ireland was listed by Mr Bruton as the core aim and value of Fine Gael in government. The smallest, and the most vital, social institution in any community was the family.
Referring to the thrust of the Government's economic policy, Mr Bruton said that children's welfare had to be its first concern. They wanted all families to have a good level of disposable income. Long term unemployment affected the stability of families.
He said their objectives were simple: keep up the growth in employment, keep interest rates low, tackle the causes of crime while dealing with crime itself and develop local communities by reforming their system of government.
He said Fine Gael's aim was to help the two traditions in Ireland to build a community founded on reconciliation and sealed by consent.
He had insisted from the very beginning of the peace process on maintaining the independence of decision making of our democratically elected Government.
He was willing to accept the inevitable criticisms that had sometimes been levelled at him because of this.
"My priority is the independence of this State's democratic institutions. No secret organisation will ever write our agenda," he said.
It was no tribute to the memory of the republican dead to continue with a policy that simply could not work.
"Success cannot be guaranteed by politics. But failure is guaranteed by violence," he said.
