Civil marriage ceremonies are growing in popularity, with 1,200 non-church weddings likely to take place in Dublin this year.
Awareness of marriage preparation courses for young couples is also growing, according to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern.
Yesterday the Minister announced a cash injection of £230,000 for voluntary organisations providing marriage preparation and bereavement support services.
Mr Ahern said that although most marriages in Ireland still took place in church, there had been a growth in the number of couples opting for civil ceremonies.
Last year there were 15,631 marriages in the State, and figures recently released by the Eastern Health Board showed that 1,200 civil marriage ceremonies would take place in Dublin this year.
There was a growing appreciation of the usefulness of marriage preparation courses. In the US increasing concern over the prevention of marriage break-up was leading to the development of a variety of such programmes, he said.
"There is a growing awareness of the value of marriage preparation programmes in teaching couples the skills, behaviours and attitudes for good relationships before they encounter difficulties in their marriages," he said.
In relation to funding for bereavement counselling and support services, Mr Ahern said families which experienced the death of one of the parents could face huge changes in their lives.
Taking on the sole responsibility for parenting, running the family home, while possibly dealing with legal and financial complications could be very demanding.
"There is a need in those circumstances for a great deal of support and specialist help. Information from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs showed that in almost 20 per cent of cases where widows' pensions were awarded, the widowed person had a dependent child," said Mr Ahern.