The first meeting between the Government and the State's religious leaders under the new structured dialogue process agreed by the Cabinet during the summer is to take place early next year.
A Government spokesman said yesterday there would be a plenary meeting between the Government and representatives of churches and faith communities early in the new year. It is envisaged that such a meeting will take place each year, along with annual separate bilateral meetings between Government and the communities.
The spokesman said the extent of Catholic Church control over primary education could be raised.
"At one level the dialogue could cover practical issues such as the upkeep and maintenance of school buildings and the planning code" - issues which impinged on the right to freedom of worship.
"[ Then] there are ethical questions such as those of individualism versus solidarity in society, and the presence of mechanisms to reflect and enhance social capital." He said there was a range of social phenomena - suicide, for example - which the churches might want to raise.
While not referring to Liz O'Donnell's remarks this week, the Government spokesman outlined a different view of relations between the church and State.
He said it was striking how little church/State dialogue there had been, although "in the Irish way there were lots of informal relationships".
The spokesman added that the Catholic bishops had met the Government last year over stem-cell research and that that meeting had attracted attention because it was a rare event.