Following the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach's statements, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams was cautiously optimistic. Yet only time will tell whether Mr Adams can sell the proposals to a more hardline republican constituency.
Mr Adams expressed relief at the concluded negotiations and said the most important thing was for the "gap of distrust" between unionists and republicans to be bridged.
"Today in a final attempt to bridge the gap of distrust we have been involved in further detailed and intensive discussion. The consequence of that effort is that we will now move ahead with the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement," Mr Adams said.
"There will be an enormous sigh of relief across this island tonight and around the world those who have been watching events unfold in this building will warmly welcome the conclusion of our efforts," he added.
"The parties and governments have voted for progress, voted for the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement and voted for a new future. We were asked to make a choice between success and failure - against great odds, and as a result of hard work and common sense we have succeeded," Mr Adams continued.
The Sinn Fein president appealed to unionists to make the process work. "We want to work in partnership with you - sharing the task of building a new future for all our people, for all sections of our people.
"We want the Good Friday agreement to work. That is the common ground between us. That is the foundation from which we will build a new future for all our people, but especially our children."
But he warned that there would be lots of people "trying to break down, to tear down what has been put together here this evening". He added: "We have collectively taken a historic step tonight. There are difficult days ahead of us. There are those who bitterly reject and who will oppose our efforts."
Mr Adams stressed it would be vital to "stand firm". "Those who don't want the future will stand in the chorus line which will put young men and women into their graves. We want to put all of the people of this island in ownership of the future," he added.
He said his party's focus and energy had been entirely on ending the impasse and thanked his negotiating team for doing a "great job".
One member of the party's negotiating team, Ms Bairbre de Brun said: "Regardless of the detail, there is an overwhelming sigh of relief here tonight. that having spent an entire week with the two governments here, there is finally the possibility of seeing the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement."
"We put proposals - the unionists took less than five minutes to say no. The unionist party spent an entire week here saying no, absolutely unequivocally rejecting everything we put forward.
"There will be people out in republican communities tonight with questions and there will be people in unionist communities with questions.
"The governments themselves said that we had to get back to the Good Friday agreement. We came here to work on that basis."
"David Trimble stood on the steps of Castle Buildings and assured us he would take the document back to his Assembly party for consultation. I do not want to say anything to prejudice that.
"We are confident that we will have positive responses from the other parties."
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, congratulated the Taoiseach and prime minister and the parties involved for all the hard work they had put in this week, and said he hoped the proposals could be implemented successfully.
"The people of Northern Ireland and the Republic have a burning desire for a lasting peace, and it is imperative that everybody in this process ensures that the proposed agreement works to the benefit of every citizen on this island."