It was difficult to think of any other development which was more vital to the State's future than a stable and permanent peace, the Taoiseach told the Dail.
"The Good Friday accord provides a magnificent opportunity for a new beginning in democratic politics in Northern Ireland. backed by a strong public mandate," said Mr Ahern. "There will be no tolerance shown for any group which seeks violently to challenge or overturn the will of the people."
In his address Mr Ahern wished efforts to create an inclusive prosperity in the North every success. "We look forward to fruitful interaction with devolved regions of the UK, such as Scotland and Wales, in the British-Irish Council, whose first meeting takes place tomorrow."
The State was changing rapidly, with rapid population growth which would probably reach four million within the next 10 years. Mr Ahern said economic buoyancy was not merely leading to full employment but attracting people from the EU and beyond to work in Ireland to fill some of the many vacancies. "We need to deal with the problem of refugees and immigrants in an organised, structured and humane way. The Ireland of the future will not just be a pluralist but a multiracial society, with our inherited political and cultural traditions being enriched and diversified from outside."
Great credit was due, he added, to the first generation of nation-builders who had set up institutions to serve all the people impartially and with integrity, Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, W.T. Cosgrave and Sean Lemass, and he paid tribute to the "vital contribution" of the Labour movement founded by James Connolly and Jim Larkin. "My party, Fianna Fail, played an important role in completing our independence, in giving us our own Constitution and in the early economic and social development of the country. But I believe that all parties should be generous in the credit that they are prepared to give to the contribution in good faith of their political opponents.
"The vast majority of politicians work hard, emulating each other, to do the best for our country and for our constituents, whilst critically scrutinising the best course ahead."
Faced with declining public participation in elections, he said, he believed a core challenge was "to build faith amongst our people in politics as public service; that politics makes a positive difference; and that politicians are committed to honesty, transparency and accountability in public affairs."
Mr Ahern said Ireland had sought to attract advanced technology, with plants from Silicon Valley to be found in the Liffey valley and elsewhere. He announced that the Government had decided to establish a European branch of the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Dublin, which would place Ireland at the leading edge of global Internet and e-commerce applications.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said that in political terms the past millennium could be characterised by the rise of liberty and the triumph of democratic politics; certainly as an ideal everywhere but, alas, only as a reality in part of the world.
"However, we should also reflect that the triumph was not inevitable and required constant struggle. In this century alone, it was seriously threatened on the one hand by the forces of barbarism and on the other by a monstrous conception of progress through social engineering orchestrated by a self-appointed elite," Ms Harney said.