The Church is using 'Robo-bishops' to take a tough stance on child abuse to win back the respect of the public, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.
Colm O'Gorman director of the victims' group One in Four claimed senior clergy who covered up clerical sex abuse in the past were now preaching from pulpits and being seen to take decisive action.
The Oireachtas Education Committee was discussing the recommendations of last year's damning Ferns Report which inquired into systematic abuse in the Co Wexford diocese over several decades.
Mr O'Gorman said today: "There is almost a Robo-bishop style of dealing with it now. After doing everything so appallingly in the past, there is an eagerness to sweep in and pronounce from the pulpit that they are acting decisively.
"Child protection is about child protection. Is it not possible to allow a priest who is stepping aside - making an appropriate decision with integrity and courage - to publicly announce that decision himself.
"Allow people the dignity and not simply have a situation where a bishop can be seen to be decisive -completely in contrast to how they've acted in the past."
Mr O'Gorman told the committee the Government and members of the public must take responsibility for child protection in order to remove taboos about clerical child sex abuse.
He said it was unacceptable that the State seems to evade responsibility in the management of schools.
"There is no responsibility for the welfare or safety of children on behalf of the state in a school situation. It is an insane situation at this stage in our history."
The Health Service Executive must have powers of intervention in cases where a non-family member is abusing a child," he said.
Politicians were taking little interest in child protection because it registered low on voters' cocnerns.
Referring to abuse in the Ferns diocese, he said: "No politician had queried what was happening. There is no political will on child abuse. It is not a sexy political issue."
Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright said vigilance is needed to ensure there were no loopholes in new vetting procedures.
She said much of the abuse detailed in the Ferns Report occurred as recently as 1995. "I wouldn't be satisfied that we have moved on in any degree," she said.
PA