The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, yesterday called on the British government to move "very quickly" to demilitarise places such as south Armagh and west Tyrone.
He warned that "the importance of the speedy removal of the hardware of war . . . cannot be underestimated" as a "vital demonstration to the people on the ground that politics works and that it delivers positive, emphatic and permanent change".
Mr Cowen made the remarks during a wide-ranging speech in New York to a lunch of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
He said the speedy restoration of the North's political institutions was "vital to the future stability of the process".
He welcomed the re-appointment of the unionist ministers and Mr David Trimble's decision to seek re-election as First Minister, congratulating him on his endorsement by his party executive last Saturday.
Mr Cowen called on Sinn FΘin to join the Policing Board to give "voice to the concerns and interests of the communities they represent".
"They have shown leadership in other areas. I hope that, in time, they will come on board for the new beginning to policing."
Turning his attention to international politics, Mr Cowen said Ireland "stands with the US and the rest of the international community in asserting that the barbarism of September 11th cannot be allowed to succeed, that the scourge of international terrorism must be permanently ended, and that there must be a total commitment by all governments to this task, with all the energy and resources at our disposal".
In that, the UN must play a "pivotal role", he insisted, and he argued that maintaining unanimity in the Security Council during Ireland's presidency this month had been important, as had been the decision of the countries participating in military action to notify it of their intentions.
He also emphasised the need for a strong and visible humanitarian input.
On the Middle East, Mr Cowen pointedly warned the Israelis, from Irish experience, that there could be "no purely military solution" and that there could be "no lasting peace that does not address all the concerns of the parties involved".
"Finally, no process can succeed if it is made hostage to the enemies of the peace process," he argued. "In order to succeed, those who drive the process must in particular rise above the politics of the most recent outrage. As the Secretary-General (of the UN) said to me yesterday, the greater the threat to peace, the more urgent the need for dialogue."
Ireland did not pretend that it had discovered a "universal solution", but it could send out a message that politics can work, "that mindsets as well as guns can be decommissioned".
Today, Mr Cowen chairs the final session of the Irish presidency of the Security Council, an open debate on the future of the UN role in East Timor. The meeting is expected to endorse a report from the UN Secretary-General providing, in line with local wishes, for a reduced civil and military UN presence in January, when the current mandate expires. East Timor will become independent next May.
