The President of the National Conference of Priests of Ireland has backed a call for priests accused of sexual misconduct to be allowed to remain in their posts while under investigation.
Fr John Littleton said when priests were suspended from their positions while under investigation their reputations were permanently tarnished, even if no guilt was proven.
"When an allegation is made, that may be historical, that may be vague, that may not have a lot of substance to it. Is it fair that the full effects of destroying someone's name should apply there when everyone knows at this stage there's no chance of restoring that man's name?" asked Fr Littleton.
He added that it was paramount that everything be done to protect children - but that this did not always mean a priest being removed from his ministry.
Earlier, Fr Tony Flannery, co-ordinator of the Galway Novena, said the removal of a priest from active ministry was justified where there was an ongoing threat or risk to children.
He said: "At the moment [what is happening] is that any allegation made against the priest irrespective of when the abuse or the incident took place, how long ago it was or the nature of the allegation, that priest is immediately removed from his position at the parish and there is a public statement made.
"This is really problematic because effectively it seems to me that what that is doing is condemning the priest in public on the basis of an allegation."
Speaking on RTÉ Radio this morning, Fr Flannery said he was referring to allegations in relation to young women, which often happened decades ago, rather than predatory child abuse.
He said priests should be allowed to remain at work until any complaints have been fully examined under the law if an allegation dates back many years and there appears to be no risk to children.
"With the climate of the times we are living in today, reasonable suspicion against a priest amounts to just an allegation. That person is immediately removed from ministry and will never serve in ministry again. That has to be a judgment before any sort of due process of law has taken place," he said.
The priest, who called it a discriminatory policy, said no other professions were treated this way on the basis of an allegation.
"I was talking to a priest yesterday and he put it even stronger than that - it effectively means our constitutional rights to be innocent until proven guilty are being taken away," he said, adding the people of the parish have a right to have a say in any decision about removing a priest from ministry.
Fr Flannery said the situation was having a disastrous effect on the morale of priests.