THE Donegal diocese of
Raphoe has lost a whopping €7m with the collapse
in the price of Bank of Ireland shares. The Catholic
diocese's Bank of Ireland investment is now worth
just €192,000 compared to more than €7m in 2007. The
figures were compiled for a special Irish
Independent investigation. The investigation shows
that Catholic dioceses headed up by Cardinal Sean
Brady and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin have suffered
multimillion-euro losses following the collapse of
the BoI share price.
Bank of Ireland shares traded at €18.70 at their
highest point in February 2007. On Friday last, they
were trading at their lowest point this year - just
43c.
Cardinal Brady's Armagh archdiocese holds 409,000
shares that have plunged in value from more than
€7.6m to €204,000, according to the register of Bank
of Ireland's shareholders, as cited in the Irish
Independent article.
Dr Martin's Dublin archdiocese, which also lost
money on AIB shares, has almost 400,000 shares,
worth over €10m three years ago but now valued at
just €270,000.
The Raphoe diocese has also lost out on the value of
AIB shares, according to the report.
A spokesperson for the Dublin Archdiocese said the
shares are held in trust for 199 parishes and that a
large number of shares were bequeathed to these
churches over the years.
Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive holds almost
59,000 BoI shares on behalf of Cork University
Hospital, which have fallen in value from €1m to
around €29,000.
Last week, an Irish Independent special
Investigation showed that the Church of Ireland was
one of the biggest losers in the AIB share wipeout,
with its shares falling from highs of €17.6m to just
over €260,000.
A number of county education boards have also seen
their investments in both BoI and AIB dramatically
fall. |
