The head of the organisation representing Catholic priests in Ireland yesterday called on church authorities to consider allowing some priests to continue ministerial work while they are under investigation for sexual misconduct.
Fr John Littleton, president of the National Conference of Priests of Ireland, made his statement in response to a comment by the co-ordinator of Galway's novena, Fr Tony Flannery, that clergy under investigation for alleged misbehaviour decades ago should continue in parish work once they posed no risk to children.
In an interview with RTÉ yesterday, Fr Littleton stressed the importance of the principle of protecting children.
He said that in some cases, however, it would be inappropriate to remove a priest from his ministry.
"The problem is, when people are removed in such a public way from their office, there is never any possibility of them having their good name restored and it doesn't matter who goes to the parish afterwards to correct the information given out which proved to be misleading some time ago."
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday evening, Fr Flannery clarified remarks made on RTÉ's Morning Ireland in relation to the church's procedure in dismissing priests.
"What I was saying was that one has to make the distinction between allegations involving continuing danger to children, and allegations relating to one event which may have occurred 20 years back where there was one relationship with a young woman," he said.
"Where there is an ongoing danger to children, the person has to be removed," he continued.
"But an allegation going back several decades relating to one incident, where there have been no other incidents, is different. Coming in a heavy-handed way, dismissing a man and making headlines in papers is not the way to treat a situation like that."
Following Fr Flannery's comments, One in Four, the charity which supports people who have experienced sexual violence, said wherever a credible allegation has been made, the person who is the subject of the accusation should step aside while the complaint is properly investigated.
The director of the group, Colm O'Gorman, added that all credible allegations needed to be responded to with sensitivity and respect for all involved.
Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, in a brief statement yesterday criticised "trivial reactions and exaggerated observations and comments" following an interview he gave to TV3's The Political Party on Sunday evening last.
Dr Martin said "in the light of confusion and misinformation, in some areas", he wished "to point out that he did not call for a change in the church's discipline concerning celibacy and the priesthood".