The people of Northern Ireland should not be asked to accept a position that would be unacceptable to the people of the Republic - namely, the participation in government of Sinn Fein without a clear commitment to follow an exclusively democratic path.
There would have to be a disconnection between Sinn Fein in government and the IRA, Ms Liz O'Donnell, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, told the conference.
Although the negotiations leading to the Belfast Agreement had been tortuous, the present difficulties regarding implementation were political by nature and could be solved through the medium of politics, she said, adding that while we might empathise with David Trimble's problems in his own backyard, we could also "groan at his decision to impose a unilateral sanction on Sinn Fein members".
"We can accept that the Sinn Fein leadership has struggled - with great skill - to move its constituency from war to peace and yet still say that the peace process rightly demands more from them or at least sufficient to move politics in Northern Ireland from serial crisis to control, from uncertainty to certainty," Ms O'Donnell said.
She warned that in seeking to nurture the Belfast Agreement, care should be taken to guard against where it might be undermined.
"That undermining may not only come from the usual suspects - anti-agreement unionists and republican dissidents. We must be on guard against pro-agreement unreasonable grievances and demands.
"The Progressive Democrats are untied enough from tribal politics to see what's fair and what is far-fetched and to know the difference. Those of us who have taken risks for the process must not abandon or compromise fundamental democratic principles. Above all, we must not advocate for the people of Northern Ireland a position which we would not accept ourselves.
"That is, participation in government of Sinn Fein in the absence of a clear commitment to follow an exclusively democratic path. There must be a disconnection between Sinn Fein in government and the IRA," she said.
The Belfast Agreement had withstood the repeated turbulence of the emerging peace and was an ambitious project by any measure.
There had been progress on many fronts and the leadership of the UUP, SDLP, and Sinn Fein were to be commended for becoming unlikely partners in peacemaking and helping to define a new Ireland for a new century, Ms O'Donnell said.
It was her profound belief, she continued, that "time, stamina and holding to the blueprint of the Good Friday agreement will see us through . . . The boundaries of the Good Friday agreement are defined by the people's endorsement. Those of us who are pro-agreement, North and South, as a political tribe must defend it and revisit its exclusive prescriptions for peace and a new future on this island."
Paying tribute to the former party leader, Mr Des O'Malley, Ms O'Donnell said the PDs would have to fight the next election without him but they would do so on the record of the role they had played in Government.