The acceptance of the consent principle on both sides of the Border "by all but a tiny minority of republicans" has finally created the conditions for a stable Northern Ireland endorsed by all its people, according to Dr Garret FitzGerald.
"There remain many problems to be overcome in bedding down this new polity but I am confident they will be overcome," he said.
The former Taoiseach was speaking at the "Devolution and Constitutional Change" conference in Belfast yesterday, organised by the Economic and Social Research Council.
More than 200 delegates attended.
In an effort to justify the abandonment of violence in favour of constitutional politics, Sinn Féin leaders had relied heavily on a predicted Catholic majority for the North as early as 2016, Dr FitzGerald said.
The recent census results which showed Catholics accounting for 44 and not the expected 47 per cent of the population, had "punctured that particular balloon". Despite the fact that a majority in the North in favour of Irish unity was unlikely in the next quarter of a century, and might never emerge, some Protestants remained concerned and Sinn Féin had an interest "in keeping this particular pot boiling".
However, the demographic situation was a strong incentive to unionists to encourage those 15 to 20 per cent of Catholics supporting the union to maintain their preference.
Prof Adrian Guelke of Queen's University Belfast expressed concern about the emergence of the DUP and Sinn Féin as the two largest parties after the Assembly election.
"I don't subscribe to the opinion Sinn Féin and the DUP will eventually get together, do a deal, and it will all be sweetness and light.
"The only real option for Northern Ireland, with a decent measure of public support, is a power-sharing Ulster Unionist-SDLP government.
"People might vote for their own radicals but they don't want anybody else's in government." Prof Guelke believed the post-election situation, with a victorious DUP and Sinn Féin, would be "like a traffic accident - a bit of a mess".
While, Prof Guelke thought it "wouldn't be fatal", he believed a "quick-fix" solution for the North's political situation was unlikely.
"Things could go unresolved here for years," he said.
Mr Quintin Oliver, the director of the lobbying company Stratagem, raised concerns about the number of local politicians "double-jobbing".
Thirteen of 52 Belfast councillors were also Assembly members and four had been Stormont ministers.
Lisburn SDLP councillor, Mr Peter O'Hagan, said if the Assembly was restored and its future guaranteed, "double-jobbing" should end.
"Sixty of our 108 Assembly members are also councillors. No Assembly members should be standing for council at the 2005 local government elections.
"It will give them more time to concentrate on their Assembly duties and it will also bring 60 new faces into local government," Mr O'Hagan added.