The Fianna Fail lender, Mr Bertie Ahern, has called for the ending of all organised and systematic boycotts in Northern Ireland.
Feelings after some of the events of the marching season were high, Mr Ahern admitted, and the sense of grievance which had given rise to the boycotts remained deep. But, he said: "All too often, boycotts become the excuse for gratuitous sectarianism and are sometimes a licence to oppress or drive out vulnerable minorities on either side."
No one's long term interests were served by prolonging the destructive atmosphere of the summer and, as a contribution to the political talks, he believed that all boycotts should be "urgently reconsidered".
It made no sense to start excluding more parties from the talks, he said, and it was important that the Mitchell principles should "be repaired and commitment to them renewed".