THE following is an edited version of Mr Gerry Adams's speech to the Sinn Fein Ardfheis:
I want you to imagine what Ireland will be like.. . when a lasting peace is established. I want you to imagine where you will be, where our nation will be. I want you to imagine what it will be like as we cross that extraordinary moment into a new beginning.
Imagine an Ireland in which the guns are silent. Permanently. An Ireland in which all of the people of this island are at peace with each other and with our neighbours in Britain. Imagine an Ireland united by a process of healing and national reconciliation.
Had I asked you five years ago to imagine the changes which have happened elsewhere in the world, you would have scoffed at me. If I had outlined developments here in Ireland, the potential which had been created, the expectation and hope; what would you have said? What do you say now?
The expectation was dashed but the hope has not been crushed.
For most people on this island, but particularly those living in the North, peace was a dream which appeared forever destined to be played out as a nightmare.
The cessation of military operations announced by the IRA in August 1994 did not occur because the IRA had succumbed to threats, demands, or preconditions.
Meaningful dialogue, force of argument, and openness to the historic possibilities that this course of action might create were the key factors in the IRA's decision.
Today the unionist leaders say they will not sit down with Sinn Fein but today there are no empty seats in the council chambers in the North. So Sinn Fein cannot be denied access to all-party negotiations because of this threat from the unionist leadership.
When the British announce publicly that there can be no negotiations without yet another precondition, they merely echo the unionist position on Sinn Fein's entrance to all-party talks.
For us, and thus for everyone else there will be no going back to the bad old days of unionist domination. There will be no going back to second-class citizenship, there will be no return to Stormont rule.
Irish republicans are prepared to do business, now, with the British government and with the unionists, without preconditions, without qualification, without delay. We are prepared to meet, to discuss and to reach agreement, to come to a democratic accommodation with unionism.
Some unionists say that we do not comprehend or appreciate the effects of the last 25 years on them. We do. Or at least some of us do. Or we are trying to and we are also trying to reach out because we who have suffered do understand your sense of hurt.
We want to make peace with unionists, to work with unionists so that when we collectively reach the end of our journey we will be able to accommodate and celebrate our diversity as equals.
Giving up on the unionists is not an option for Sinn Fein. Bypassing the unionists is not an option for us.
Republicans recognise that there will be no peace in Ireland if unionists are not a part of shaping that peace. Therefore our heartfelt wish is for a unionism that is capable of shaping its future inside a negotiating process based upon equality.
The road ahead will be difficult and dangerous and risky for all of us but working together I am convinced we can succeed. It is my conviction that we will have a peace settlement.
We actively listen but we also seek to inform. So unionists need to see that Irish nationalists and republicans are forced to live in a British state let which treats us as second-class citizens.
To their own surprise, some of those who had been most negative about my dialogue with John Hume and about the Irish peace initiative and the IRA cessation found themselves in government in the middle of the peace process. "A bit of a shock" as John Bruton said. At the time we acknowledged that it was difficult for him to address the new situation and we commended efforts to create progress in the face of British government intransigence.
We kept every commitment we made and we did so in good faith. Mr Bruton knows this. But we refused to lower our expectations.
Whatever shade of government emerges from the general election in the 26 counties Sinn Fein will endeavour to work with it to rebuild the peace process. That is our pledge given here today. But that government must respect the mandate which our voters give us.
British policy in Ireland has manifestly failed. One of the achievements of my dialogue with John Hume is our agreement that an internal settlement is not a solution.
How do we move forward?
Irish freedom, democracy and peace are in the interests of all the people on the island. Partition affects all of us. Sinn Fein seeks national self-determination, and the unity and independence of Ireland as a sovereign state.
In our view this issue of sovereignty, the claim of the British government to sovereignty in Ireland, is the key matter which must be addressed in any negotiation.
There are some who say the British government is neutral. Whatever about its strategic or economic interest, John Major has made it clear that he is a defender of the Union. This policy and the unionist veto are at the core of the conflict. The aim of democratic opinion must be to seek a change in British policy towards Ireland and an end to the unionist veto.
Sinn Fein seeks change. We are not afraid of change. We have embraced change. It is the life-blood of political struggle and the basis for a lasting peace agreement. Our task must be to make change irreversible. Some time ago, in a spirit of generosity and in an effort to create a space in which progress could be made, I made it clear, in the context of proper all-party talks and in a situation in which all the other parties sign up to the Mitchell Report, that Sinn Fein will do so also.
We ask no more than is accorded to any other party, open and honest dialogue, everyone at the table, everything on the table and no unionist veto.
A new government is about to be elected in London. That new British government knows precisely what is required and knows just as precisely our position on the issues of concern to it.
Let each of us put behind us the failures of the past, the lack of confidence, the distrust. We can do business, we can find agreement if political leaders and especially governments are prepared to take risks and if political will exists on all sides. A lasting peace, is the prize.