Religious programmer has €550k in bank

The firm involved in the production of The Angelus and other religious programming on RTÉ was sitting on a cash pile of €550,000 at the end of last year.

Kairos Communications is the largest independent contributor to RTÉ’s religious programming services and its director, Fr Finbarr Treacy, said yesterday that he was very happy with how the Dublin-based company performed in 2012.

“We had a similar performance to 2011 and it is the consistency that we are happy with,” he said.

Accounts for 2011 filed with the Companies Office, the latest available, show the firm recorded a profit of €36,866 — and this takes account of large non-cash depreciation costs totalling €199,112.

The firm employs 18 full-time people and Fr Treacy said: “The firm is not out to make a profit. We reinvest all of the monies.”

Fr Treacy said the company is contracted to produce nine hours of television and 49 hours of radio programming for RTÉ in the current year.

“The number of hours we produce for RTÉ has reduced a little due to cutbacks in their budget. We live from contract to contract,” he said.

The firm was established in the 1970s by the late Fr Michael Melvin and it began producing religious programming for RTÉ in the 1990s, when it produced the Prayer at Bedtime that was broadcast before the playing of the national anthem.

Fr Treacy said the firm, which is owned by the religious order, Society of the Divine Word, is involved in media training, educating 200 students each year. All of the firm’s employees are lay people.