Belfast students were urged to speak up against hatred and contempt by the President, Mrs McAleese, yesterday as she started two days of engagements in the city.
She told the boys and girls of Methodist College they were the most fortunate generation, with peace in Northern Ireland now tangible and "waiting to be crafted".
In reference to continuing difficulties in the political process she stressed the value of current negotiations. "Politicians are sometimes criticised for using language that means all things to all people. But sometimes progress lies as much in the process as much as the project, in the act of dialogue as in the finished text.
"I think all of us have noticed over the past year, in the wake of the Good Friday agreement, that the act of dialogue is actually taking us to a new kind of landscape, a new kind of understanding."
Addressing the school's current affairs society, she also said that in the past words had been wielded in the North to wound, destroy, insult and alienate. "This is not to say we should be silent. Silence, or rather a refusal to speak, does nothing to redeem past hurts. Rather, it allows the toxin of hatred that for so long has poisoned the heart and soul of Northern Ireland to continue to fester."
Mrs McAleese said she had no doubt many of the students present would be among the future leaders of Northern Ireland in politics and the professions and in social, religious and community life. "The more you speak up, the smaller will be the space colonised by hatred and contempt."
Political figures who have recently accepted invitations to speak at the school include the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam; the UK Unionist Party leader, Mr Robert McCartney; and Mr Ian Paisley jnr of the Democratic Unionist Party. ein president, Mr Mr Gerry Adams spoke at the school last year.
Later, at the Restoration House in Dunmurry, the President congratulated those gathered for their work in restoration ministries and for spreading the gospel of hope and friendship.