Sinn Féin is committed to building the peace, and to reaching out to the Protestant community, said Mr Alex Maskey, head of the party's "unionist outreach" committee.
While the party was committed to dialogue, "I am also struck by the fact that there is unfortunately a blind spot among all shades of unionism about their role in the conflict".
He said: "I want to say from this platform, to the unionist community in particular, that Sinn Féin is committed to building the peace, promoting national reconciliation, developing our own party's consciousness and structures which will enable us to genuinely reach out to unionists and the broader Protestant community."
However, he said unionists "need to recognise" the impact on northern Catholics and nationalists of the years when a Protestant and unionist state was imposed on them.
