Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe yesterday published the diocesan accounts for 2004, which showed that the diocese made a payment of €130,000 to victims of clerical sex abuse last year.
It follows a payment of €265,000 to victims of sex abuse by the diocese in 2003. The diocese made a further payment of €70,000 this year.
The payments are funded from the €1.5 million sale of six acres of land at Dr Walsh's residence in 2001 and the Catholic Church's Stewardship Trust, established to cover claims of clerical sex abuse.
The Stewardship Trust paid almost all of the €265,000 payments in 2003 and is expected to cover €100,000 of last year's €130,000 payment.
Stressing diocesan commitment to heal the wounds of abuse, Dr Walsh said: "I wish to assure people of our commitment to help victims of abuse to journey towards a place of healing."
The accounts show that the diocese received €330,000 in bequests last year, compared with €60,000 in 2003.
Bishop Walsh said: "The records of the diocese show the generosity of people from every parish, who have given both large and small donations down through the years in their wills so that the church can continue its work into the next generations."
The one-off bequest of over €200,000 allowed the diocese to have a gross income of €951,908 in 2004, compared to €598,637 in 2003. The annual wage bill for the diocese's 118 priests rose to an estimated €2.9 million in 2005. The accounts show that a priest's salary scale went up from between €17,700 and €22,178 in 2004, to a scale of €20,000 to €24,600 in 2005.
The rise in salaries follows a system established in 2000. According to the diocesan statement: "This guarantees a basic minimum annual income for each priest working in the diocese."
