The Church of Ireland Synod wants to know how much its bishops are paid.The synod yesterday unanimously passed a motion requesting details of what their two archbishops and 10 bishops are paid.
Proposing the motion for disclosure of the costs of running the episcopal leaders on the second day of the annual General Synod in Galway, Dr Alan Acheson, of the Connor diocese, said that the Church of Ireland should follow the example of the Church of England and publish the salaries of bishops and the costs incurred by their ministry.
Referring to the Church of Ireland as a "voluntary organisation", Dr Acheson argued that "we owe it to our faithful people to provide detailed information in the matter of resourcing their bishops".
Uncover
Requesting the Representative Church Body to publish episcopal costs under the headings of stipends, pension funding, employer's State contributions, and office, secretarial and travel expenses, Dr Acheson suggested that such a practice will "uncover the fact that some of our bishops are under-resourced in point of administrative support".
The Synod was told that its capital funds decreased in value by 11.8pc to €662m in 2007 after a difficult year on the financial markets.
However, revenue grew 8.5pc and the amount allocated to activities for 2008 was 7.1pc higher than last year bringing the budget over €6m.
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