Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is today expected to outline plans for the start of a new formal discussion among the State, churches and faith communities on areas of common concern.
Meetings between senior civil servants and representatives of various religions to explore the agenda to be pursued in the talks and to arrange a timetable for meetings with the Government have been ongoing since the summer.
Mr Ahern will tell the Opposition parties in the Dáil that arrangements for the start of dialogue are being finalised. The structure will allow for a plenary meeting between representatives of the churches and faith communities every year, while separate bilateral meetings between the Government and the different faiths will be held on an ongoing basis.
The extent of Catholic Church control over primary schools could be raised in talks, covering practical issues such as the upkeep and maintenance of school buildings, it is understood. Issues which impinge on the right to freedom of worship are also likely to be discussed, while the dialogue structure may allow for the raising of a range of social phenomena such as suicide.
While there have been informal contacts between the State and various churches in recent years, there has been no mechanism in place for formal talks. In 2004, the Catholic bishops met the Government over stem-cell research but this meeting was a rare event.
A Government spokeswoman confirmed last night that consultations between the State, churches and faith communities have been ongoing and a formal talks launch date is under consideration.
At the Humbert Summer School in Killala, Co Mayo, last August, Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin expressed his disappointment at the delay in a formula being proposed by the Government for its promised formal dialogue.
Last February, the Taoiseach said he believed dialogue between the Government, churches and non-confessional organisations should be "transparent and open" and facilitated under the Freedom of Information Act.
He said in an interview with the Irish Catholic that, as Taoiseach, he represented "equally not only Catholics but people of all faiths and none. This is not only my constitutional duty; it is at the heart of my republican values."
A spokesman for Dr Martin said last night it was his understanding matters were "moving ahead" in relation to a formal announcement on the talks.
A spokesman for Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Dr John Neill told The Irish Times there were soundings taken in September on talks and "we will be listening with interest to proposals and developments". The general secretary of the Council of Imams, Ali Selim, said the Government wrote to him a few months ago and he replied that Muslim communities would be delighted to participate.
Last November, PD deputy and former minister of state Liz O'Donnell called for an end to the "special relationship" between Church and State in the Dáil.
She also demanded that "the church's almost universal control of education" be "radically addressed".