CATHOLIC MARRIAGE AGENCY ACCORD says it has had to make staff redundant due to a major reduction in the amount of money it receives from the Government.
Four staff members are to lose their jobs and one full-time role has been changed to a part-time position, ACCORD president Bishop Christopher Jones said this evening.
The agency receives its funding from the Catholic Bishops, couples who take part in pre-marriage courses, and State grants. ACCORD says its State funding will have dropped by more than 40 per cent by the end of next year – a loss of €3.6 million which it was expecting to receive since 2010.
ACCORD says it will receive a reduced grant of around €700,000 next year for the central office, which is designed to pay overheads and salaries for fourteen staff, nine of whom are full-time.
Bishop Jones said the redundancies were especially difficult because they came at Christmas time.
“Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to make these redundancies compulsory,” he said. “Staff have been met and ACCORD is engaged in a process to finalise new arrangements, which will take effect in early February 2014″.
“Redundancies at any time are very difficult for all involved but particularly so at Christmas. We have done our best to keep job losses to a minimum and will endeavour to continue to meet the ever increasing demand on ACCORD’s marriage education and counselling services in these economically challenging times”.
ACCORD said some 6,536 couples used the services in 2012.
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