The Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, has said the release of paramilitary prisoners is a necessary but painful part of achieving permanent peace in the North.
In a wide-ranging speech to Armagh Chamber of Commerce, he said the violence surrounding this month's Drumcree protests had blighted the image of Orange Order marches and he warned the order about becoming marginalised.
He also reiterated the British government's determination that the RUC name would not be used and the new police force would be known solely as the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Mr Mandelson admitted the early release of some of the North's most controversial paramilitary prisoners this week would be hard for many to accept.
But he said there were times for stomaching the unpalatable to lessen the chances of future conflict.
"At times, such as this week, you have to swallow hard on something like prisoner releases and recognise that while people's feelings will be hurt, you have to continue with what is necessary to achieve a permanent peace.
"I do not pretend that I can even begin to comprehend the pain the victims and their families may feel at moments like these. But I do know that the only justification is if we as a community put behind us the conflict that has disfigured our collective past."
Mr Mandelson said that after the violence of the Drumcree protests the Orange Order was facing crucial decisions. The summer had been "disfigured" by confrontation over marches. Although there had been trouble at only a small number of Orange parades, this had blighted the image of them all.
The North had been escaping the pictures of bombings and shootings which previously defined it in the eyes of the world, Mr Mandelson said.
"Are we now going to let Northern Ireland be known for ugly standoffs, barricades and disorder flowing from marches?"
At its best, the Orange Order existed to promote religion and defend liberty of conscience, he said.
"Is the cause of true religion associated with thugs and paramilitaries offering naked threats? Is liberty defended by barricades which see people turned back from visiting their sick relatives in hospital? Is unionism advanced by throwing missiles and hurling insults at the RUC?" he asked.
The Orange Order had been weakened, not strengthened, by Drumcree. It had diminishing public support and had given its opponents tremendous propaganda opportunities.
The Northern Secretary said there was a "real choice" for the order to make. "Will it become marginalised, shunned by many of its own community, associated with violence and disorder, and ridiculed by those outside?"
Alternatively, the order could play a key role at the heart of Protestant culture, celebrating the past, bringing together many in the community in pursuit of its true principles and gaining the respect of others. Mr Mandelson said paramilitarism might still be a reality, but it had no future in the new Northern Ireland. The community had to be "careful that as politics is restored to its rightful place, a rump of paramilitarism does not stay behind, a grumbling infection in the body politic, a Mafia-like virus in society".
He added: "None of us must rest until it is completely eradicated." Dissident paramilitaries would not succeed because they faced the "united opposition" of the two governments and people of Northern Ireland, the Republic and Britain. Although all the North's political problems had not yet been solved, Mr Mandelson paid tribute to its political leaders for the advances over the past two years. The RUC had done "a magnificent job at a huge price", but the police service had to change as Northern Ireland itself changed. "That is why, attractive as it may have seemed politically, I do not believe a dual name would be good for the police themselves." A Sinn Fein Assembly member, Mr Conor Murphy, accused Mr Mandelson of "trotting out this old and offensive position" and said that even after 30 years the British government was blaming everyone but itself for the Northern conflict.
Mr Murphy said: "Peter Mandelson uses the language of reasonableness and `balance' while blaming Irish people for the consequences of bad British government policy in Ireland.
"If he is serious about the Good Friday agreement, he needs to do more than talk about making politics work. He must make politics work by implementing the Good Friday agreement in all its aspects and doing so more speedily. That means demilitarisation. That means policing as presented by the Good Friday agreement.
"That means a justice system. Although much progress has been made in recent years, we should have made more and at a faster pace."
Full text of Mr Mandelson's speech is available on the Irish Times website at www.ireland.com