The celibacy of Catholic bishops aided the cover-up of child sex abuse by priests, former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald has said.
Dr FitzGerald said that if the bishops had been married and had their own children, "they would surely have reacted quite differently to this scandal".
"We now know that bishops, apparently under pressure from Rome, attempted to hush up this problem, displayed an extraordinary incomprehension of the revulsion of parents, and of the laity in general, at the betrayal of the innocence of children by a small minority of the clergy.
"Whatever influence the celibacy of the clergy may or may not have had on clerical paedophilia, the celibacy of bishops must have contributed to the cover-up," Dr FitzGerald said. He was speaking at the Teaching in a Changing Society - Embracing the Challenge conference, which took place in Galway on Thursday and yesterday.
Dr FitzGerald also discussed how teachers now play an important role in the development of moral values in young people, saying rapid economic growth and the "effective collapse of the authority of the Catholic Church" have left a dangerous moral vacuum in our society.
"How can that gap be filled? Only, I believe, by our corps of teachers, especially at second level, to whom our society must now turn for help to retrieve the dangerous social void in which we now find ourselves.
"Teachers and school principals generally retain today the trust of their pupils, and more than anyone else, through their privileged access to the new generation, teachers have a unique capacity to contribute to an urgently needed remoralisation of our society," he said. Dr FitzGerald also spoke about issues of sexual morality, saying the considerable lengthening of the period between puberty, marriage and childbirth has had a profound impact on the scale of pre-marital sex taking place.
He said teachers may be able to "influence young people to see sexual activity as appropriate to genuinely loving relationships" and eschew engagement in "recreational sex", which Dr FitzGerald believes makes it difficult for people to enter into a permanent personal relationship and successful parenthood.
Dr FitzGerald's address also touched on the handling of homosexuality as an aspect of sexual morality, which he said needs to be treated delicately, as young people often face homophobic attitudes from their peers.
