Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that the next week may give an impetus and a cause for reflection to political parties in Northern Ireland at a time when the institutions are not up and running.
A number of events have been taking place to commemorate the 1998 agreement, which largely led to the end of the 30-year Troubles and established the power-sharing Assembly at Stormont.
The institutions are currently suspended as part of a protest by the DUP against post-Brexit trading arrangements.
Mr Martin said there will be a significant gathering of many leaders who helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement and he said that will give cause for reflection, not just in terms of the past but also for the future.
He will attend Queen's University's three-day agreement 25 conference, which is starting tomorrow and will feature speeches by former British prime minister Tony Blair and former US senator George Mitchell.
It will be hosted by former US secretary of state and first lady Hillary Clinton, with attendees including Bill Clinton, US president in 1998, and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Mr Martin said there is a genuine desire to get the institutions back up and running and he believed the Windsor Agreement deals comprehensively with the issues raised.
He said space is being given to people to analyse it from their perspective but there is no way of getting away from the democratic "thing" that parliaments are convened following an election.
After meeting Joe Biden during the US president's brief visit to Northern Ireland last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will return to Belfast on Wednesday to give a speech at the conference and host a gala dinner for young volunteers.
Mr Sunak will meet key architects of the Good Friday Agreement and representatives from Ireland and the US during his visit, and ahead of the events he paid tribute to those who built the agreement.
He said: "This week we continue to acknowledge the courage, imagination and perseverance of those who built the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. It gives me great pleasure to meet with some of the leading architects of peace and to commemorate those who are no longer with us.
"It is a tribute to the 1998 Agreement that we also see a younger generation of inspirational people across Northern Ireland today - those who volunteer time and effort to actively make their communities stronger.
"So this week I will also pay tribute to young people who have continued to heal the wounds of a dark and difficult past, and those who came before them and set the groundwork for a better future."
The events in the coming days will focus on the peace, prosperity and economic opportunity the Good Friday Agreement brought to Northern Ireland, Downing Street said.
Last week, Mr Biden delivered a speech at Ulster University in which he expressed hope for a return to power-sharing, saying a stable devolved government could deliver an economic windfall for Northern Ireland.
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Ahern hoping for power-sharing to be restored
Meanwhile, Bertie Ahern has said he hopes for the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont and called for greater cooperation between the UK and Ireland.
US President Joe Biden last week said the UK should be "working closer" with Ireland to support Northern Ireland.
Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday this morning, Mr Ahern said that prior to Mr Sunak, there was very little contact between the two governments.
He noted that the British-Irish Council had not met for a long time and successive prime ministers had not attended, the last one before Mr Sunak was Gordon Brown over decade ago
"It was a bit odd that countries so close together couldn't get a British PM to attend for that length of time," Mr Ahern said.
He spoke about his disappointment that the Stormont Assembly is not up and running.
"You can't have a situation in democracy that anytime someone is unhappy with something they can just pull down the institutions ... we have to try to find a way of dealing with that," he said.
Mr Ahern added that Brexit has caused "untold difficulties and problems".
"We found it very difficult to deal with Boris, we had the trouble with backstop and protocol and Brexit in the first place," he said.
"I don't think we wouldn't have had the institutions of Northern Ireland down and on and off for the last six or seven years if it hadn't been for Brexit. It has caused us untold difficulties and problems".
Mr Ahern praised Mr Sunak, who he said had done a good job and invigorated efforts to get everything working in Northern Ireland.
He added that he would meet him on Wednesday, and hoped to be able to communicate further with him and others involved.
He said that there were a huge amount of positives from the Good Friday Agreement, but that what is left is the "political one (question)" to resolve.
"Sunak is really trying to resolve that matter," Mr Ahern said.
"The Windsor Framework nearly resolves all those issues, there are still a few outstanding ones."
He said that Northern Ireland is still a divided society and there are problems of integration but agreement is the only way to make progress.
The former taoiseach said that politics is the art of compromise and that progress is only possible when people are prepared to find a middle ground.
On the DUP position, he said that there had to be a move away from parties only supporting one position, and that it is not tenable or sustainable or in the interest of people in Northern Ireland.
On a possible Irish presidential run Mr Ahern told Sky that he would not be making any announcement as the election was too far away.
Additional reporting PA
