Newly-elected Fianna Fáil senator Dr Martin Mansergh has urged republicans to participate more fully in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Speaking to some 200 delegates at the second annual Jean Kennedy Smith Symposium in New Ross, Co Wexford, on Saturday, Dr Mansergh said one problem in the peace process was what he termed the "mismatch" between the progress needed to keep the process afloat and the pace at which republicans in particular were willing or able to move at.
"The biggest gap in substantive terms is participation in the new, reformed PSNI as a sign of full commitment to the new dispensation, but also to provide a substitute for ad-hoc paramilitary law enforcement, the brutality of which is unacceptable to the vast majority from a human rights and democratic point of view.
"There is much more that needs to be done to curb street violence emanating from both communities. The sectarian harassment of minorities is particularly reprehensible. Segregation of population by religion is absolutely abnormal in the rest of western Europe and there is something deeply wrong about people having to protect themselves from neighbouring communities."
The North's Deputy First Minister and SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, set out his recipe for stabilising the situation.
"We must affirm the absolute primacy of the institutions. That means making clear that no party can respond to its own internal pressures or paramilitary wrongdoing by threatening to turn the lights out on our new democratic institutions. Paralysing government punishes the public, not the paramilitaries.
"We should also recognise that the peace process has been built on inclusiveness and meddling with that principle serves only to undermine the potential for progress.
"However, this does not mean that we turn a blind eye to paramilitaries and both governments need to be honest and credible on this and call situations as they see them. When governments deny the obvious, use euphemisms and praise paramilitaries for not doing worse, people simply lose faith in the process.
"In response to paramilitary wrongdoing, we need a more vigorous policy of protection and prosecution.
"The rule of law must be upheld through the courts and not by threatening to wreck the institutions or imposing crude sanctions. The political representatives of paramilitaries must also accept their responsibility for calming the situation on the ground."
The symposium, chaired by RTE's chief news correspondent Charlie Bird, was also addressed by Ms Rita O'Hare, Sinn Féin's representative in the US, and Dr Patrick Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland.
Former US president Mr Bill Clinton and former Northern secretary Dr Mo Mowlam featured in pre-recorded video inserts to pay tribute to Ms Jean Kennedy Smith for her work as US ambassador to Ireland from 1993-1998.