The Irish and British governments have insisted the fundamentals of the Belfast Agreement must remain in place but that they are open to constructive alterations to the Good Friday deal.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, in their addresses to the first plenary session of the review of the agreement at Stormont yesterday repeated their faith in the cross-community consensus philosophy of the agreement.
However, they told the Assembly parties, including the Rev Ian Paisley's DUP which is pressing for major change to the agreement, that they are open to some modification of the accord.
"The Good Friday agreement is both an international treaty and a part of the Irish Constitution. It will come as no surprise to anyone here, therefore, when I say that we take its provisions very seriously," said Mr Cowen.
"As both governments have stated publicly, the fundamentals of the agreement are not up for negotiation," he insisted. "But almost six years since it was signed in April 1998, we are aware that, in the light of experience gained, there may be practical, sensible proposals that would improve what has not been an optimum operation of the agreement.
"For our part, we are certainly prepared to positively engage with those who wish to table such proposals," said Mr Cowen.
"The proposers of such changes will have the opportunity in the review to try to persuade others of their merits and we are open to considering changes which would be capable of attracting a wide measure of consensus among the parties," he added.
Mr Cowen said he wanted to see a peaceful, stable and inclusive Northern Ireland.
"I have no doubt but that we will hear differing views on many subjects during the course of the review.
"However, we want to see everybody's mandate respected and we want to see the spectre of paramilitarism removed, no matter what quarter it comes from," he added.
In his address Mr Murphy said there must be a complete end to all forms of paramilitary activity, "bringing the transition from violence to exclusively peaceful and democratic means to an unambiguous and definitive conclusion. And there must be a matching commitment on all sides to the stability of the institutions of devolved government," he said, adding that the fundamentals of the agreement could not be tampered with.
"At the same time, there is an onus on all of us to look constructively at ideas, from whatever source, for improving the operation of the agreement.
"So I hope that all of the parties represented here will approach the review in a constructive spirit, both in bringing forward their own proposals and in receiving those of others," said Mr Murphy.
"The people of Northern Ireland, and beyond, will not understand if we get bogged down in procedural or other unproductive discussions when there is serious work to do," he added.
