The deficit now being faced by the Dublin
archdiocese has increased as parish collections have fallen and the
costs incurred in running the diocese have increased dramatically.
While substantial cash reserves have been eaten up by abuse payouts
and legal fees (see right), accounts also reveal that the cost of
central administration has sky-rocketed by almost 500pc in less than 10
years.
Accounts for 2009/2010 show that the diocese is spending just shy of
€4.8m a year on central administration. In 2002/2003, the figure was
just over €1m.
The 2009/2010 accounts -- the latest for which data is available --
show that the archdiocese brought in some €59.4m, down from €66.2m the
previous year.
Some €15.6m was raised from 'family offerings' by parishioners usually by way of the traditional 'Sunday envelope' system.
A further €18.3m was raised in parishes for the support of serving, retired and sick priests.
At the same time, the diocese spent some €23.8m supporting priests representing a shortfall of some €5.5m on remuneration alone.
The 'Share Collection' -- which the Dublin archdiocese is trying to
revamp -- has played a vital part in redistributing funds from parishes
throughout the diocese.
The collection, which is taken up as a second collection in every
parish in the diocese, also funds central diocesan services such as
administration at Archbishop's House, Catholic Youth Care (CYC) and the
Office for Evangelisation.
Latest accounts show that parishioners gave just over €8m to 'Share'
in 2009/2010, a drop of €500,000 from the previous year but still more
than the €7.8m collected in 2007/2008.
The cost of administration rose by some €300,000 from the 2008/2009
accounts when almost €4.5m was spent running the central structures of
the diocese.
The amount of money spent on diocesan and national pastoral services and commissions has fallen sharply.
In 2008/2009, more than €1.5m was spent on these services.
By 2009/2010, the figures had almost halved to just €887,000.