Ian M Ellis, who was editor of the church’s newspaper for 16 years up to 2017, has been seeking answers from the Representative Church Body (RCB), the Rathmines-based charitable trust that runs the Church of Ireland’s finances across the island.
The charity has net assets of €638m and in 2021 reported income of almost €15m and expenditure of €17.8m.
Canon Ellis, who accused the RCB of “stonewalling” in 2016 when he asked about its finances while he was editor of the CoI Gazette, told the Sunday Independent that for over a year he has been trying to get answers on why bishops’ expenses of hundreds of thousands of euro in 2021 were restated in the RCB’s accounts in 2022 by over €100,000.
The retired canon said that according to the RCB’s 2022 Book of Reports, its 2021 Office of the Sees expenses were reduced by €30,000 to €301,213 in its 2022 report.
The Office of the Sees expenses (in sterling) were reduced by £16,401 to £171,225. The Houses & Other Costs for 2021 increased by €58,574 to €367,000 and the sterling amounts under this category decreased by £9,107 to £230,948.
“The amending of the original 2021 figures led to three of the four restated figures being considerably reduced amounts, and one being a considerably increased amount,” said Canon Ellis.
“This raised questions for me concerning the process. I asked for an explanation of each of the four amended figures but did not receive this, only being told the changes overall were due to the inclusion of ‘administration recharges’.
The retired canon said an email he received from the RCB in June 2022 indicated that in previous years some costs were not included in the bishops’ costs section of the annual report, but were included in an overall allocation to bishops. This raised further questions for him.
The retired canon was offered a meeting with the RCB to address his concerns in May, but this offer was withdrawn later this summer after he asked if he could record the meeting to have a formal record of the answers given.
“Precisely because I have always had all due regard for the RCB, its members and staff, I find the RCB’s approach to my enquiries on episcopal costs and expenses particularly disconcerting,” said Canon Ellis.
“I am disturbed that the RCB has indicated that I laid down required conditions for a meeting which the RCB had offered me last May in order to explain matters to me. I did not lay down required conditions.
"Rather, I made a four-point proposal, namely that I could be accompanied by a retired banker associate, that there would be no confidentiality restrictions placed on me, and regarding the recording of the meeting and possible follow-up provision.”
He said the RCB’s written responses to him were similar to what he experienced as editor of the CoI Gazette in 2016/17 when it declined to answer specific questions.
In 2016, the RCB insisted that expenses for bishops were “adequate, rather than generous.”
In response to queries from the Sunday Independent, the RCB said it is sometimes necessary to restate prior year comparisons.
“Any material reclassification of income or costs would be subject to internal approval and external audit, “ it said.
“The explanation for the reclassification referred to in your query relates to administration and related costs.”
It said the RCB’s trustees are responsible for its annual report and financial statements which are prepared by staff and audited by PwC.
“The financial statements are reviewed each year by the audit committee, to whom the auditors report, and presented to our governing body, the general synod,” it said.