A loss of more than €5m in donations [1] during the Covid lockdown was suffered by Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese.
Regular income from collections had “fallen off a cliff” because of the shutdown of churches between March 15 and September 2020, an archdiocese spokeswoman told the Sunday Independent.
Donations have dipped again as level three health measures have stopped religious services in the capital.
The long lockdown period and the restricted sizes of congregations caused income to drop by more than 70pc, or €5.5m, compared with the same period last year.
The second collection for Share, which supports struggling parishes and the administration of the archdiocese, had fallen by €2.3m to €750,000, a drop of 75pc.
A voluntary redundancy scheme was offered to 77 central services staff and parish pastoral workers, with 25 expected to apply – but that number was exceeded.