This article is from page 4 of the 2013-04-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE people are still opening their hearts, and their wallets, to the Fianna Fáil party – despite the party being blamed by many for helping to bring about the 2008 collapse of the Irish economy.
Fianna Fáil netted in excess of € 17,000 from church gate collections in Clare last year.
This means that Clare mass goers donated more to the Fianna Fáil party last year than any other county in Ireland.
Indeed, Clare alone contributed more than 9 per cent of the party’s entire € 185,000 take from the church gate collection in 2012.
This cash boost from the Banner county is a welcome tonic for the party who are currently working to reduce the large debt built up after the last general election. The part have already reduced the debt from an estimate € 2 million to just over € 1.2 million.
The € 17,000 raised in Clare last year was an improvement on party’s performance in the county in 2011 which brought in a total of € 16, 536. Fianna Fáil has been a consistent hit at the church door in Clare with previous collections netting the part € 23,594 in 2009 and € 21,727 in 2010.
Indeed, last year performance at the church gate marks an important turning point in the party’s financial fortunes in Clare as the amount of money collected has increase for the first time since the start of the recession.
A motion calling for an end of the practice of church gate collections was effectively defeated at this weekend party ard f heis.
The collection has become a divisive subject with party circles and threaten to create an urban/rural divide in Fianna Fáil.
The church gate collection netted the party just € 20 in Dublin last year – which prompted some urban based party delegated to support a motion to scrap the process.
This motion was, however, amended referred back to the party’s finance committee for further discussion.