Cathal BarryThe grant to LGBT Galway, €45,000 over three years, was approved by the society’s Maureen O’Connell Fund
Bishop of Galway Martin Drennan is demanding answers from the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) in Galway after it dished out thousands of euro to fund a permanent lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resource centre there.
The grant to LGBT Galway, €45,000 over three years, was approved by the society’s Maureen O’Connell Fund as a contribution to a full-time resource centre which Galway City Council has pledged to provide.
A spokesman for the SVP told The Irish Catholic that the decision was endorsed by the society’s National Management Council as providing support for an “excluded and marginalised group in need of support”.
He claimed this was “consistent with the SVP mission statement to support social justice initiatives.
“It is also a key element of the SVP Christian ethos to be non-judgmental when its assistance is sought,” he said.
Galway diocesan spokesman Fr Sean McHugh confirmed that Bishop Drennan had made contact with the SVP to seek further clarity on the issue.
“We want to keep in mind the good work that the St Vincent de Paul does throughout the country. We don’t know the full facts of the story yet,” he said.
The SVP spokesman, however, was keen to point out that the funds were allocated on the basis of need and did not signify any ulterior purpose.
“The decision was made purely on the basis of need in the Galway area, in the same way as all requests for support are assessed. It does not signify any other motive.
“The SVP objective is the relief of poverty, both material and emotional, in Ireland and abroad without differentiation on the grounds of race, colour, creed, ideology or gender,” he said.
The Maureen O’Connell Fund is administered under the direction of the SVP St Augustine’s Conference in Galway.
It operates separately from the day-to-day work of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Galway, which involves volunteer members responding to the needs of households who request assistance.
An SVP spokesman said no grants from the MOCF come from any public donations to SVP.
The Society of St Vincent de Paul in Galway received the €7.8 million bequest in 2007 from the sale of an Eyre Square pub belonging to the late Maureen O’Connell.
Annalisa Murphy, who was appointed in September 2009 to administer the Maureen O’Connell Fund, said: “This is a learning process for everyone involved. Maureen O’Connell entrusted her funds to the Society because she believed in what the Society stands for and the work the volunteers do. We in turn owe it to Miss O’Connell to be 100% accountable in the stewardship of the Maureen O’Connell Fund.”
According to the SVP website, the acting president of St Augustine’s Conference, Peter Quinlan, said his conference was “particularly anxious to help individuals or groups in need who have fallen through the cracks in the system”.