Cardinal Daly's comments on inter-church communion came during an address at an ecumenical service in Bray, Co Wicklow, on Tuesday night.
He said that while "some of the exchanges of recent weeks" seemed to mark a setback in relations between the churches, they had also shown there were many people "who have a real need to express in a tangible way their Christian fellowship with members of other churches. . .but who in conscience cannot receive Holy Communion."
He wanted to suggest a "very meaningful way of doing this" which was widely practised in other countries and was "particularly helpful" when the Eucharist is celebrated on ecumenical occasions.
"Those of a different Christian tradition come before the priest or ordained minister with hands crossed on their breast, they bow their heads and receive a blessing from the priest or ordained minister." The practice had been commended by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical on Christian unity, Ut Unum Sint, and Cardinal Daly said he himself had been "deeply moved by personal experience" of it.
Adding that the practice "has the great advantage of causing embarrassment to neither tradition," he continued: "It demonstrates respect for both the traditions in question. It visibly manifests the respect which Catholics have for the ordained ministry in other churches and it specifically expresses the recognition which Catholics wish to give to the spiritual value of that ministry and its God-given power to evoke lives of faith and grace and to bear fruit for salvation."
He concluded that "all these matters" would doubtless be discussed between the Irish churches.