The Prime Minister of Ireland has said he is glad that Catholic church is less dominant in public life ahead of a Papal visit this weekend.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said he hoped Pope Francis would address the victims of abuse suffered in church institutions.

"I think in the past the Catholic Church had too much of a dominant place in our society.

"I think it still has a place in our society but not one that determines public policy or determines our laws," he told the BBC.

The Pope is due to arrive in Dublin on Saturday morning and will also visit a Marian shrine at Knock, in the west of Ireland, during his two-day visit, before conducting a Papal mass in Phoenix Park on Sunday.

Mr Varadkar, who is Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach, said that his predecessors would have consulted the Pope about secular matters such as health policy, but this was no longer appropriate.

He added: "We do have a church/state dialogue that involves other churches as well and faiths other than Christian faiths too."

The weeks before the visit have been dominated by criticism of the church's handling of abuse cases, with a report published earlier this month about abuse in Pennsylvania concluding that 300 predatory priests had abused more than 1,000 children.