The Archbishop of Dublin is "appalled" by the number of stabbings which took place in the Dublin diocese over Halloween weekend.
At the Céifín "Imagining the Future" conference in Ennis, Co Clare, Dr Diarmuid Martin called on people "to address more directly the issue of violence in our society."
He asked "Why do so many young people carry knives? Why is the culture of drink still so dominant for many young people? Things are not likely to change if we still have, for example, areas in the suburbs of Dublin where, as one priest recently told me, there are already three pubs, three betting shops, but no doctor and no pharmacy!"
He warned against the manner in which many elderly were being treated in Ireland today. "Leaving someone to die on a trolley in a waiting room is no way to treat people," he said.
"Having beaten our breasts over the treatment of children in institutions 20 years ago I would be very worried that if we don't address this issue we might find ourselves using similar institutions to park the elderly," he said.
At the same conference, the Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, criticised what she saw as the vulgarity of today's Ireland.
"Many of us, if we have any developed sensibility, recoil at the vulgar fest that is much of modern Ireland," she said.
She described features of that "fest" as "the rampant, unrestrained drunkenness; the brutal, random violence that infects the smallest of our townlands and villages; the incontinent use of foul language with no thought to place or company; the obscene parading of obscene wealth; the debasement of civic life; the growing disdain of the wealthy towards the poor; the fracturing of our community life."
There was, she said, "a moral poverty" in Ireland today which had resulted from "the staggeringly swift creation of a society in which we are increasingly neutral in our judgments of all sorts of objectively bad behaviour, be it infidelity, the abandonment of families, loutish behaviour on the sports field, under age sexual behaviour.
"Those who indulge are, bizarrely, more likely to be feted than condemned. Punch someone's lights out, wreck your head with Class A drugs, and you're more likely to appear on a chat show than a court bench."
She suggested "it would be good if we recognised the new religions of sex and drink and shopping for what they are and tiptoed back to the churches. It may not even be necessary to believe. It may be sufficient just to remind ourselves of some of the universal truths about charity and decency and how to live a good life, all of which are contained in the teachings of the major religions."
Journalist Mr John Pilger, who was to be presented with the Céifín Values-Led Award at the conference yesterday, was unable to attend due to illness.