The Taoiseach has announced a task force to determine how to promote greater citizen participation in communities and in society, acknowledging that the pressures of modern working life threaten Ireland's traditional family and social ties.
The task force will have six months to report on how to encourage people to volunteer to work in everything from parish activities, credit unions, sporting and scouting activities. Bertie Ahern implied that the "more demanding" society we had now militated against Ireland's traditional social cohesion.
Returning to a theme he has raised several times recently, Mr Ahern said a society's health was determined not only by economic growth and higher living standards but "mutual support and solidarity based on shared values".
In Dublin at a conference on the future of the community and voluntary sector, he referred to the book Bowling Alone by American author Robert Putnam, which "traced the processes by which the health of societies can be enhanced or diminished, depending on the extent to which individuals participate in, and feel part of, a wider social reality. . .
"I believe the quality of life in society and the ultimate health of our communities depends on the willingness of people to become involved and active."
His speech to a conference organised by the Wheel, a network of voluntary and community groups, reflected the anecdotal evidence from many politicians of a sharp fall-off in volunteers taking part in community activities from sports clubs to youth work and care for the elderly.
He said Ireland traditionally had "relationships of care and support across the generations and, increasingly, across geographical boundaries.
"The neighbourliness of city streets, village communities and rural parishes are taken for granted both in times of celebration and sorrow."
He said there was evidence of generosity in Irish society on a broader scale too. "Who can forget the tremendous outpouring of interest and support, right across Irish society, during the Special Olympics? More recently we have been gratified but not surprised at the scale of the response to the tsunami disaster in Asia."
He said the finding of a recent Economist magazine survey that Irish people ranked highly in the international measurement of happiness "results from the combination of high living standards made possible by economic growth and mutual support and solidarity based on shared values, which makes for a happy and contented society".
Ireland could not be complacent about this as there were pressures which militated against this type of communal engagement.
The Task Force of Active Citizenship would "consider on a broader basis the policies and actions at official level which can help or hinder such engagement.
"We need to identify the supports which could help encourage people to become involved and to stay involved."
He will shortly announce its composition and terms of reference.