Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today warned that humanity must remain steadfast against the "poisonous influences" that led to the Holocaust.
Mr Ahern today visited the Jewish Museum in Portobello in Dublin, where he viewed the various exhibits displaying artifacts of Jewish life in Ireland over the centuries.
The museum was opened in 1985 by Chaim Herzog, the Dublin-born former president of Israel.
The Taoiseach describing the Holocaust
He paid tribute to Ireland's Jewish community which he said has made a "tremendous contribution" to Irish society over the years despite being small in size.
He noted the first recorded Jews in Ireland were the five people who the Annals of Innisfallen said arrived in 1079.
Since then, Mr Ahern said, Ireland's Jews have always been people of ability and industry. "They have participated fully in all walks of life, in the professions, trades, and manufacturing," he said.
Despite the influence of Jews in Ireland, the number living here is dropping. Mr Ahern attributed this to a mixture of factors, including marriages outside the faith and the drift of the young people towards larger Jewish communities abroad.
"Zionism attracted quite a few," the Taoiseach said. "Indeed, it is observed that there are today more Irish-born Jews in Israel than in Ireland."
Mr Ahern described the Holocaust as "the greatest failure of humanity in the 20th century". He said that Irish Jews, despite being "somewhat isolated", suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis, with most losing family members or friends.
He said humanity must be on its guard that there will never be a repeat of the horrors of the Holocaust. "The poisonous influences that brought it about have not passed from our world," he said.