أحسن الله إليكم Shaykh, can someone who is very irregular in his daily prayers be taken as a friend if he is of a good character and wants to be religious even though he doesn't work for it? What if it is hard to find people who pray regularly?

Be helpful to him in making him pray on time. But if u mean he prays sometimes and the other times he doesnt then help him be steadfast upon praying but dont take him as a friend as he might drag u into not praying. So, we have to be very careful to protect our deen and help others not the opposite. And ofcourse u assess the situation and decide.