OUTGOING First Minister Arlene Foster has warned that MLAs must be "generous" with each other if Northern Ireland is to progress.
In one of her final appearances at question time in the assembly, Mrs Foster said yesterday that the north cannot "keep looking backwards".
Mrs Foster was forced to quit last month after a large group of DUP representatives challenged her leadership.
Asked whether Irish language and Ulster-Scots legislation outlined in last year's New Decade, New Approach agreement would be enshrined before the end of current Assembly mandate, she said it is for "others now to push ahead in relation to all of the promises...and therefore those will move ahead according to their timetable".
"But I just want to be very clear, as I said in my resignation speech, you know here in Northern Ireland there are people here who are British, others who are Irish, others who are Northern Irish and we have a mixture of all three. And of course we have our new and emerging community as well," she said.
"But we must all learn to be generous to each other, to live together and to share this wonderful country that we're all so privileged to represent here in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
"So that's certainly my belief, and I hope it's the belief of everyone in this Assembly if we were to move forward, we cannot keep looking backwards because the future for Northern Ireland will not be found in division, but instead in sharing this place that we all call home."
Irish language legislation is expected to be a key battleground between the DUP and Sinn Féin once Mrs Foster leaves as first minister.
Incoming DUP leader Edwin Poots is revamping his party's senior team in preparation for Mrs Foster's departure as party leader on May 28.
Mrs Foster said she will step down as first minister at the end of June.
However, Mr Poots has already indicated he will ask the party whether Mrs Foster should stand down earlier than intended.
Once Mrs Foster leaves her post, the DUP must put forward its pick for first minister.
Sinn Féin is not expected to back the DUP's choice without major concessions, primarily around the Irish Language Act.
Without Sinn Féin agreement, the secretary of state must call an election, most likely for the autumn.
If Mrs Foster stands down early, the party will have more time to prepare for an election.
Mr Poots narrowly won his leadership battle against Sir Jeffrey Donaldson by 19 votes to 17 on Friday.
He has already confirmed that he will not take the first minister post himself.
He will continue to hold individual meetings with MLAs today as he builds his ministerial team.
MLAs Mervyn Storey, Paul Givan, Paul Frew and the party's new deputy leader Paula Bradley have been tipped for new ministerial roles.
Mr Frew was Mr Poots's campaign manager.
Mr Givan worked as an assistant for Mr Poots and became a special adviser when he was culture minister between 2007-08 and environment minister between 2009-10.
