The three Rs are to become four with the inclusion of lessons in respect for pre-school and early years primary school pupils.
Training modules being designed by the Pavee Point Travellers' Centre will be the first of their kind in the country to tackle issues of racism and discrimination for children under eight. The move has been endorsed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.
The modules, entitled Eist - the Irish for listen - are aimed at everyone working with young children, including playgroup and creche operators and national school teachers.
There are currently no formal guidelines for dealing with sensitive issues of cultural and physical difference despite the growing number of children from diverse ethnic backgrounds now living in Ireland and the increasing integration of special needs children into mainstream education.
Funding from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform earlier this year allowed Pavee Point to carry out research on the subject.
Over the next three years the organisation will develop a range of courses to address the gaps it identified in existing training for workers in the childcare sector.
The need for such training was underlined by the personal experience of one Traveller woman who attended the publication of the Eist plan yesterday.
Ms Winnie Kerrigan, curator of the cultural and heritage programme at Pavee Point, said she and her seven children faced discrimination on a daily basis.
"It's from the moment you leave your own house in the morning until the moment you get home in the evening.
"When you're an adult it's one thing, but for a child it's very hard. School for a Traveller child is like being a child from abroad, coming into the class and trying to fit in.
"There's nothing spoken about their culture and that's what causes discrimination and racism. Teachers don't know what to do about it because they kind of expect it to happen.
"When you get hurt at a young age in your first school, it stays with you and never, never goes away. It's like a bad cut. It leaves a mark to always remind you of it."
Ms Colette Murray, the early years co-ordinator at Pavee Point, stressed the importance of nurturing respect for difference at the earliest opportunity.
"Research shows us that children as early as two and three years are aware of differences and susceptible to developing prejudices," she said.
That view was echoed by the Minister, who said children were naturally curious and picked up snippets of information and opinions from careless adults which could misinform their perception of others.
"We have to address our prejudices and not pass them on to the next generation. We have to ensure that the children of today are not the bigots of tomorrow."
The Eist project aims to provide childcare workers with both the tools to introduce initiatives encouraging respect for difference into their classrooms and playrooms and to deal with incidents of discrimination such as name-calling or exclusion.
The training modules will be offered to teacher training colleges and private childcare organisations and while participation will be voluntary, Pavee Point hopes the Department's backing means it will become the norm.
Ms Linda Coffey of the Pan-African Organisation warmly welcomed the initiative.
"It's fantastic that it's going to be an issue for teachers and that there's going to be a proper policy," she said.
"There is no point in a teacher telling one child not to call another child names - the child has to be made understand why it's wrong and the parents have to be brought in to support that process.
"It's not just for children of minority ethnic backgrounds. It's for the child in the wheelchair, or who wears glasses or has freckles or pimples. There's always something that makes people different, and children have to learn that difference is great."