Sinn FEin delegates made renewed calls for the immediate release of all IRA prisoners, including those on remand for capital murder.
Mr Cathal Crumley, a Derry City councillor, said a few "unpalatable decisions" on prisoners would have to be made if the conflict was to be resolved.
"In a week when the Gardai has called again on the Government not to free those prisoners serving 40-year sentences, it is necessary once again to spell out our position clearly on this issue. We cannot, and will not, countenance a situation which would leave any of our prisoners incarcerated."
He said while the party had no wish to ride roughshod over people's sensitivities, "we are either in a conflict resolution situation or we are not. If we are, all political prisoners should be freed."
He said: "There are those in the loyalist community who have been identified by the community as political prisoners who have caused communities suffering and hardship and whose actions republicans would be hard pressed to agree with as political actions. Those people will have to be freed also."
Mr Gerard Magee, an H-block prisoner on temporary release, paid tribute to the Sinn Fein leadership for keeping the prisoners issue at the top of the political agenda during negotiations.
Reserving judgment on the agreement, he said any final settlement must include the right of the Irish people to self-determination.
Mr Noel Magee, one of nine IRA prisoners released from Portlaoise last week, spoke in support of the party leadership as it moved into the next phase of the peace process. He read a message on behalf of IRA prisoners in Portlaoise calling on republicans not to be "distracted by those who cry sell-out without offering realistic alternatives".
Ardcomhairle member Mr Gerry Kelly praised the Government for being more proactive than Britain on the prisoners issue, although he said it still needed to speed up releases.
To those who raised the issue of the victims, he said republican prisoners like everyone else "understand suffering".