Mr Peter Mandelson has said the paramilitaries must decommission their arms if support for the Belfast Agreement is to be maintained. The Northern Secretary said the enormous political progress recently had created circumstances in which "we can reasonably expect arms to be taken out of politics for good".
"All of the agreement must be implemented, including decommissioning, if all sections of the community are to continue to support it," he told Omagh Chamber of Commerce, in Co Tyrone, yesterday.
He said the courage and unity of those who rebuilt Omagh after the "Real IRA" bomb killed 29 people was an example to all.
"What Northern Ireland stands to gain from peace is nowhere more apparent than in Omagh. Nowhere better represents the journey of Northern Ireland out of its dark and isolated past and into a better future than Omagh. Nowhere warns us more starkly of the terrible price of failure."
He stressed that disarmament must take place. "Like the decision to trigger devolution, decommissioning is a voluntary act. But it is an obligation under the Good Friday agreement.
"I sincerely believe that from the ruins of 30 years of conflict a new Northern Ireland is emerging, a place of tolerance and trust, a place where two proud, confident traditions respect each other's identity and peacefully express their own.
"Northern Ireland is becoming what Omagh has long been - a tolerant, forward-looking society." The Northern Secretary visited the memorial at the bomb site and met local RUC officers who helped after the blast. He also met bomb victims, including Mr Lawrence Rush, whose wife, Libby, was among those killed.
It is understood Mr Rush asked about the progress of the investigation into the bombing. Mr Mandelson laid the first brick for a new youth project for Omagh Boys' and Girls' Club at James Street.
Meanwhile, Mr Mandelson has urged people in the North to accept "certain symbolic changes" to policing and has insisted that the RUC is "greater than its name". He is expected to give his formal response to the Patten report in London tomorrow.
In an interview in yesterday's Belfast Telegraph, he said any change in the composition of the police or its downsizing would involve hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation for officers and their families.
He said such changes would depend entirely on the situation and the threat posed by the paramilitaries. The security forces were watching dissident republicans and loyalists "like hawks".
The Northern Secretary admitted that several of his decisions on the Patten Report would involve "some pain". He added: "Nobody will like everything that I decide because the gap in perceptions of the RUC is too great for everyone to be satisfied.
"But I do believe that everyone will be able to live with the conclusions I reach even if they are not entirely happy with them. The bottom line is that my respect for the RUC and my commitment to protecting the integrity of the police is total. Implementing Patten will take time.
"I am not going to usher in any changes overnight. It will involve a great deal of legislation which will take some considerable time to see through and a great deal of money."