It is now time for the republican movement to listen to the will of the Irish people and fully embrace democratic politics, Progressive Democrats leader Mary Harney said tonight.
She told her party conference that Irish people had overwhelmingly supported the Belfast Agreement and Sinn Fein and the IRA must finally take notice of this and abandon the "bogus mythology of political violence."
"How many more times should it take for the message to sink in? None, is our answer. We have spoken.
"It is not time for the people to speak again; it is time for a small minority to listen finally," she told over 600 delegates in Cork.
Her comments came just days after Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams used a British general election speech to urge the IRA to switch to political methods to achieve its aims.
In her conference's opening address, the Tanaiste recalled the 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement - founded in the same year as the PDs. She said it facilitated the Downing Street Declaration, the paramilitary ceasefires and the Framework Document - which all culminated in the Belfast Agreement.
"The peace process and the Good Friday Agreement are not the property of any one party. They are the people's property. Every responsible political party is committed to the bedrock values of our democracy, of our republic.
"It is those values, not the bogus mythology of political violence, that underpin the Good Friday Agreement, our Constitution and the European Union."
She said the referendum for the Agreement was the third great vote of the 20th century after the 1922 Treaty vote and the 1937 poll on the Constitution.
"All had one thing in common: democratic, non-violent politics, based on the rule of law. Three times, three generations spoke," she said.
Earlier, she paid tribute to the architects of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, John Hume and Seamus Mallon of the SDLP. "They were the true, peaceful civil rights leaders in the North, the original and the best. And let us always vindicate that legacy of peaceful, democratic, civil rights politics," she said.
With the opening of the parties 20 thannual conference overshadowed by the Poe's funeral the party organised an ecumenical mass attended by delegates.
Ms Harney, who was at the funeral told delegates after the mass that the world had said goodbye to one of the greatest figures of Europe and of the 20th century.
"It's difficult to think of anyone who made a more positive impact on the world in the 20th century. He touched more people than anyone else.
"Europe has been enormously shaped by his actions and his influence. We, and successive generations, will reap the benefits of the peace, unity and freedom he did so much to bring to our continent.
"I and others did not always agree with some of his positions. But we were all deeply impressed by his commitment to human rights, to the faith he proclaimed, and to the poor of the world.
"He has left a lasting legacy in history and in people's lives."
PA