Irish bishops back in the black

Figures from the latest accounts of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, made public for the first time this week, reveal it to be firmly back in the black.

A report of the 2014 accounts show a financial surplus of €616,091 (£452,826) compared to a deficit of €103,076 (£75,754) in 2013.

Last year, the income from all sources to the bishops’ General Purposes Trust, of which the four Irish archbishops are trustees, was €5,382,161 (£3,955,604), while total expenditure was €4,766,070 (£3,502,863), leaving the Irish hierarchy’s balance sheet healthily in surplus.

According to Martin Long, director of the Catholic Communications Office, the decision to publish the financial report for the first time is intended “to increase accountability to the faithful concerning the financing of the pastoral work of the Irish Bishops’ Conference”.

The report covers the current areas of activity of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference and its five commissions. It does not include the conference’s development aid agency Trócaire, which is a separate trust.

The counselling service for survivors of clerical abuse, Towards Healing, saw its income from the bishops increase by almost €250,000 (£183,679) to €1.5 ­million (£1,102,056). There were also increased contributions for the care of retired bishops.

However, the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI) saw its income drop from €342,226 (£251,357) to €243,975 (£179,194) in 2014. According to the CCI spokesman, the income of the National Board comes from a number of sources and because these had increased, funding from the bishops’ conference and other sponsors decreased.

In January 2014, the former chief executive of the NBSCCCI, Ian Elliott claimed in an article in the Irish Catholic monthly magazine, The Furrow, that the funding of the NBSCCCI has been progressively reduced over the previous four years.

He suggested there was no reason for this reduction “other than a desire to limit the role of the board by covert means”.

Elsewhere the improved financial picture saw investment and other incomes more than double, to €350,653 (£257,720) in 2014.

However, cash in bank showed a big drop of almost €4m (£2,938,863) from 2013 to 2014. This decrease, Martin Long said, “reflects funding support by way of repayable loans to various church entities and there is a corresponding increase in debtors figure at year-end”.

He said the reduction in net cash of about €4m reflects moving funds that were on bank deposit into an externally managed investment fund.