Mags GarganAccord has made a number of job cuts in the mouth of Christmas
Accord, the marriage care service of the Catholic Bishops Conference, has made a number of job cuts in the mouth of Christmas, in what is believed to be a consequence of financial pressures at the agency.
An informed source told The Irish Catholic that 14 permanent members of staff, in positions at all levels within the agency, based at Accord’s head office in the Columba Centre in Maynooth, were notified they were losing their jobs and that there were just seven vacant positions that they could then apply for in order to be reemployed.
Funding
The agency receives funding from the bishops’ conference, monies from engaged couples participating in pre-marriage courses and a substantial €2.4m in funding from the State. The Family Support Agency, part of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, paid €2,363,700 of the funding and the HSE provided €59,058.
Accord (formerly known as CMAC) was established in Ireland in 1962 and comes under the Episcopal Commission for Pastoral Care with Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones as president. The agency offers marriage preparation courses and relationship counselling in 60 centres throughout Ireland, both North and South, offered by more than 800 professionally trained volunteers. It celebrated 50 years of service to couples last year as Ireland’s largest nationwide marriage care agency, and has reported a steady increase in a demand for services over the last number of years.
In 2012 throughout Ireland, 14,232 people attended Accord marriage preparation courses and the agency delivered 50,422 marriage counselling hours. In 2011 over 7,000 couples attended Accord marriage preparation courses and delivered 49,000 counselling sessions.
Questions to the Catholic Communications Office in relation to Accord staff redundancies were unanswered as The Irish Catholic went to press this week.