Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has again backed calls for the reform of devolution in Northern Ireland.
Mr Martin was speaking at the Alliance Party conference in Belfast tonight.
Alliance has been urging reform of the way the Stormont Executive is constituted to enable parties other than the largest nationalist and unionist parties to fill the roles of First and Deputy First Ministers.
Under the current rules, because Alliance refuses to designate itself as either unionist or nationalist it is not eligible to fill either of those positions, no matter how many Assembly members it has.
"As the Alliance vote, and consistent opinion polling shows, there is an undeniable increasing proportion of society here seeking a political home that is not primarily defined by the constitutional question," Mr Martin said.
He added: "And the voice of your voters, their vision, and their identity, is just as relevant, just as fundamental, to the future of this place as anyone else's. It cannot be seen through the lens of a previous time, nor can it be dismissed or downgraded as 'other'.
"The Good Friday Agreement was at its heart about inclusiveness, 'of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions'.
"That vision has to encompass the reality of today’s Northern Ireland. Every person has to count just as much as anyone else."
With the power-sharing Stormont Executive restored after a two-year gap caused by a DUP boycott, the Tánaiste said he believed there was now an opportunity to begin a meaningful conversation about reform.
"We have had two extended periods of years of one party and then another blocking the formation of the Executive," he added.
"We just cannot have another such period. I don't think any party wants that and I am certain that the public would have zero tolerance for another cycle of suspension, disenfranchisement and political torpor.
"And therefore, I have said it makes sense for us to look now at what we can do to make the institutions more stable and effective while, of course, retaining the Agreement’s foundational commitment to meaningful power-sharing and inclusiveness."
He said any such discussion will need to involve all the political parties in Northern Ireland, civic voices and both Governments.
It's the second time in a matter of weeks that Micheál Martin has advocated reform of the political institutions.
Speaking during a Dáil debate last month, the Tánaiste said the people of Northern Ireland should not be expected to tolerate further cycles of instability and suspension of the institutions.
The power-sharing Executive has collapsed six times since it was formed in 1998.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long is expected to focus much of her attention on her party's calls for reform during her conference speech tomorrow.
The party has said reform is the best way to improve the stability of the institutions and end what it has branded "ransom politics".
