Trócaire recieved €29m in public donations last year

Trócaire, the Irish Catholic Church's overseas aid agency, received €29.6 million last year in donations from Irish people, or almost €5 for every person on the island of Ireland.

The funds are being used to help improve the lives of some 3.4 million people in the poorest regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The figures emerged on publication of the 2014 Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference yesterday. Funds for the conference are handled by the Hierarchy General Purposes Trust, for which the four Catholic archbishops are trustees. Trócaire exists independently of the trust.

Trust’s income

The trust’s income last year was just under €5.4 million. The main sources were diocesan contributions provided by the bishops themselves, with an additional €350,653 from investments. Total expenditure for the year was €4.7 million leaving a surplus of €616,091. The balance sheet shows reserves of €5.2 million, of which €965,783 is restricted for specific purposes.

The membership of the conference is made up of the bishops (or administrators) of the 26 Catholic dioceses on the island of Ireland together with auxiliary bishops.

The largest single area of expenditure by the trust last year was €1.5 million on the church’s Towards Healing service which assists survivors of clerical child sexual abuse.

However, spending last year on the church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children, was almost €100,000 lower than in 2013, at €243,975. The Bishops’ Council for Emigrants spent €170,549 last year helping Irish people in the US, Australia and England. A further €150,091 was spent helping more than 1,400 Irish prisoners in 25 countries.

Last year the conference spent €112,003 on legal and professional fees, and €25,444 on expenses.

Some €526,456 was spent on the care of retired bishops. Full details are at www.catholicbishops.ie/finance.