Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has praised organised religion for being a powerful means of making immigrants feel at home in Ireland.
Mr Ahern was addressing dozens of religious and humanist leaders at the opening of an ongoing structured dialogue between their organisations and the State.
The leaders of at least 15 Christian churches joined Jews, Muslims, Bahais and humanists in Dublin Castle to hear Mr Ahern formally unveil a mechanism for one-to-one consultations with each group at least once a year.
Government sources underlined that the new dialogue with the Department of the Taoiseach will not displace the existing contacts between organised religion and other government departments, like education.
Mr Ahern complimented the way Christianity was still indelibly shaping Ireland, and the way other faiths had made their mark here, especially in the past decade.
Mr Ahern said 'we cannot understand who we are today, let alone where we hope to go tomorrow, if we do not first understand and listen with an open ear to the deepest influences within our national life'.
He said a further consideration in initiating the process was the recognition of the contribution which the churches and Church personnel have made to the building up of this country and its place in the world.
As Mr Ahern praised organised religion for being a powerful means of making immigrants feel at home in Ireland, Dr Ali Al Saleh, an Imam in Milltown Mosque in Dublin, said it would help end the marginalisation which many fellow believers can feel.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said that now the State had begun this dialogue, ecumenical and inter-faith discussions needed to intensify to create greater understanding between churches and religions.
Mr Ahern said it would be a betrayal of the best traditions of Irish republicanism if an aggressive secularism had its way.
