The Archdiicese of Dublin sold ALL the land to the GAA for 95 million.
The GAA then sold HALF the land, that cost them 47.5 million for 105 million.
Thats a GAA profit of 52.5 million and they still owned half the land.
If the GAA sold HALF for 105 million, then it means the land could have been worth 210 million.
But the ARCHDIOCESE sold for 95 million what was potentially worth 210 million?
Thats a church LOSS of 115 million?
Who were the GAA and the Archdiocese of Dublin negotiators?
Who in the archdiocese finally signed off on the 95 million?
Was it Diarmuid Martin?
Update on the development plans for the Clonliffe College site
Thu, Jul 9, 2020 The Green Party
If you didn’t get to make the briefing from Hines Ireland today on the developments planned for the Clonliffe College site please find a summary of the key points below.
Please note that this is an early stage plan. Lots of positives in the plan but also elements that we feel could be better.
The shortage of good quality housing in the city has not gone away so it is incumbent on us all to make sure the best possible use is made of the site.
If you have any thoughts on the below please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Neasa Hourigan TD, Cllr. Janet Horner or Cllr. Darcy Lonergan
Roughly half of the site is being developed by Hines for residential use (circa 7 hectares), half by the GAA (circa 5 hectares).
In addition to the hotel the GAA plan to develop a sporting ground comprising a Clubhouse and two pitches.
A masterplan for the Clonliffe lands can be found here
The latest plan contains 1,650 apartments broken down as follows:
30% studio
30% one bedroom apartments
35% two bedroom apartments
5% three bedroom apartments
There will be no co-living on the site i.e. all units will have own kitchen
No apartments will be sold by the developers:
80% will be private rental
10% will be affordable rental
10% will be acquired by the council under Part V for social housing
Height
The buildings will be mainly 2 to 10 storeys
Two of the buildings are planned to be 13-15 storeys.
There’s a focus on keeping the existing trees and adding more trees.
A dog park is planned
There will be a riverside walk which will be part of a route that surrounds development
Green public open spaces.
Allotments are being considered.
Pitches – will be open to schools.
Will provide a large crèche (circa 5,000 sq ft).
There will be an option for a bridge over the Tolka near the Tolka park.
Still a lot of detail to work out on that with Dublin City Council.
Lands are currently zoned:
Z12 – zoned (residential with 20% public access)
Z9 – zoned along the banks of Tolka
Timelines:
Lodge planning as a Strategic Housing Development with An Bord Pleanála (APB) at the start of 2021.
While Dublin City Council are involved in the ABP application the application will not go through the typical Dublin City Council planning process
2023 – first residents to planned to move in
All complete 2026
DIARMUID MARTIN’S APARTMENT IN CLONTARF?
How is it that Diarmuid Martin moved out of archbishop’s house and has been living in a church owned apartment in Clontarf, Dublin. 3?
Was a large amount of money spend on ABs house to house Dermo, including a Euro 50,000 kitchen because he enjoys cooking?
Was the move to Clontarf a pre retirement strike?
Is that going to be his Dublin base in the future?
Will his successor live in ABs House?
IS THIS PAUL CALLAN’S HOUSE?
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
166 replies on “CHURCH GOT 95 MILLION FOR CLONLIFE. GAA KEPT HALF THE LAND AND SOLD THE OTHER HALF FOR 105 MILLION!”
Hearing that Scotland is on the way down… John Keenan of Paisley struggling to keep his clergy in check and a new rampant homo seminarian running rings round him?
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The seminarian is running rings round not only Keenan but the entire bishops conference. I hear he knows most secrets of the clergy in Scotland.
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Pat. The person claiming to be me above isn’t me. Can you fix your blog to stop imposters and make it mandatory to verify by email?
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Yes. And one or two of the episcopate, active and retired!
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Pray do tell, dearest Taggart.
Let me just pop the kettle on and and get the biccies out.
Now right from the beginning – and don’t miss any juicy Goss out! Lol
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Keep the blog posted on the new rampant mo. He sounds like a new JPL in the making.
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Thanks for the heads up, inspector.
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He has went into hiding…. surprise surprise
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The GAA is openly saying that it was the deal of the decade and that it was Dermo personally who was adamant that Clonliffe be sold to the GAA.
From the Irish Examiner:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-30981161.html
GAA hails Clonliffe College deal as ‘the key financial achievement for the year, if not the decade’
The GAA are expected to make a tidy profit from their €95 million deal to purchase the 31-acre Clonliffe College site in Drumcondra.
“Archbishop (Diarmuid Martin) was very anxious that he would sell to the GAA and he really wanted to deliver a social and affordable housing complement to that part of the city,” explained GAA stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna.
“He also wanted to have GAA pitches there as part of the overall vision for it. So we’re the ideal partner to get involved there.”
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The person selling shouldn’t be the one very keen to sell. It should have been that the GAA was very keen to buy, with the diocese having the upper hand. No wonder the GAA is laughing all the way to the bank.
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Exactly. I think residents’ groups nearby should complain to the Charity Regulator that the diocese failed in its fiduciary duty to maximise value for the diocesan charities, as required by charity law.
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The most important point is that the property was potentially worth 210 million and was sold to GAA for 95 million.
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Imagine if you were selling your own house and the first people to look around were told “the vendor is really keen to sell it to you”. Would you get a good deal?
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Diarmuid Martin is NOT a business man. He had no business underselling land with so much monetary and historical value. That money could have gone to his priests or his pastoral workers or the homeless!!! He decided by HIMSELF to sell the land to the GAA for nothing…why? There was no bidding and no other offers considered. There must be laws against biased underselling of land? Did DM personally profit from this in some way?
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This new seminarian is apparently close to some of the most senior clergy in Scotland and is well known for his sleepovers. He apparently lives the life of luxury and is in one of the best parishes in his diocese. He will get let away with it… as they always do in Scotland.
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Go away and stop using my name.
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Ignore the other two imposters. I am the real Inspector Taggart. I will show it is me by using an * after my name.
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Go on. Give us the name.
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The apartment cost 450k in 2012 and was purchased for Mgr. Paul Callan while his house was being renovated. It is not the AB’s retirement home. He was using it as a ‘holiday home’ while Bishop Paul Tighe was visiting Dublin all last month. He could no longer use AB’s house because someone let it slip on your blog that Tighe stays in his house while visiting Dublin. He thought he was being smart and that no one would find out but the ruse is up Dermott 🙂.
The truth will set you free even if it is revolting.
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450 k for a temporary residence sems way OTT.
When my house was being renovated here in Larne I was housed in a small two bedroom apartment worth 60,000 for a few hundred quid a month for three months.
Could Callan not stayed in some presbytery?
As Dermo lives in ABs House whats wrong with him having friends stay there?
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The planning permission documents for a new boundary fence around the secret garden at 79 Drumcondra Road Lower confirm that the house is owned by the diocese. The garden is huge.
http://www.dublincity.ie/LocationPublisher/default.aspx?topicname=Planning&Featureid=3428/14
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Callan could have stayed in one of the former priest staff apartments in Clonliffe College – they still exist. I am sure that the president of the college had a nice suite.
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Yes the presidential suite in Clonliffe was very fine – as was the vice president’s. The priest suites were all very fine too. I cannot see why these numeries need big 4 storey houses to live in.
Hopefully the new man will sort out all thus financial abuse.
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Okay let’s cut to the chase here. I intuit that the underlying suggestion here as to the reason for secrecy / discretion is that DM and Tighe are more than buddies rather than just friends ? I know, I know, the very thought turns the stomach ! But is this the reason for all of the obfuscation ?
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It is perfectly possible that DM and PT are just close personal friends. There is no evidence to suggest anything else.
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Paul TIghe had to self isolate for two weeks when he got here. Dermo gave him the apartment to ‘self isolate’.
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Planning permission approval came through today for the 200 bed hotel the GAA will build on the site of the carpark in the college used on Croke Park match days. The loss of those parking spaces affects the functioning of the stadium and suggests that that is a secondary concern to squeezing as many € out of the site.
The Irish Independent reported that Dermo’s kitchen cost €90,000. He hates Archbishop’s House. As you know, Pat, it adjoins Clonliffe and the temptation to sell it to the GAA as well might prove irresistible.
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But surely AB House, like the Red House is a listed building?
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The main building at Clonliffe is also listed, Pat, and it was sold.
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Will the GAA have to keep that building. Is it going to be the hotel?
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No, the new hotel is a seven-storey new build on the Clonliffe College carpark near the front gates. The main building is in the half of the property sold on quickly by the GAA to Hines. Effectively half the Clonliffe site rested in the GAA account before they sold it off for a massive profit. The diocese could have just sold it directly to Hines at the proper rate if Dermo hadn’t been so stubborn.
https://westernpeople.ie/2020/08/25/gaa-secures-planning-for-200-bedroom-hotel-near-croke-park/#.X0YtAFPTVkw
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Have heard of him in the past couple of days… he is best of friends with his PP who is friends with one of the top Curia members in nearby Glasgow. This seminarian appears to enjoy a good following on social media etc.
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Dermo spent half a million on the palace in Drumondra, including €94,000 on the kitchen.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/renovations-to-archbishop-of-dublins-palace-cost-500000-26500291.html
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Why do you need industrial equipment to wash 30 cups, saucers and plates ?
My hotpoint – £ 200 can do that.
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€200,000 spent on the first floor alone. Though that looks a bit penny-pinching when you think that Noel Treanor spent £4 million on his palace in Belfast.
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I’m thinking of joining Iskcon (the Hare Krishna movement). The theological similarities with Christianity are huge! Will you give me your blessing?
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You asked some unusual questions Pat.
“Who were the GAA and the Archdiocese of Dublin negotiators?
Who in the archdiocese finally signed off on the 95 million?
Was it Diarmuid Martin? Well obviously Diarmuid, as the Archbishop would have been the one in Dublin to sign off on it and then seeking approval from the Vatican for the sale. But who where the cowboys and cowgirls who did the negotiations that were then presented to the archbishop. Perhaps I shouldn’t tell. But……………………..
Try as a Starter, Ms Ide Finnegan A.C.M.A. M.Sc and then for your Main Course have a wee nibble on Declan McSweeney they are the Finance A Team in Archbishops House. They are the experts and would have lead the charge of the Light Brigade, aided by some snake oil salesmen from an off campus property firm. The poor Arcbhishop would never have met them. As an aside do you know the meaning of the term “expert” well an Ex is a has been, and a Spert is a drip under pressure and there are a lot of them involved in the dreadful decision to sell Clonliffe for under its market value. Im undecided whether the Charities Commissioner or the Criminal Assets Bureau should be the ones to investigate
In honour of Ms Ida and poor Declan McSweeney and the snake oil salesmen I dedicate my next rendition
Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said.
Into the valley of Death, Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
Flashed all their sabres bare,
Flashed as they turned in air
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wondered.
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right through the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reeled from the sabre stroke
Shattered and sundered.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came through the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
Im just trying to bring a little culture to the proceedings. As the Archbishop would say before he throws another hissy fit.
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See this kind of thing is the reason the church started employing lay managers and what have you… To take up the church’s inability to manage its clergy (safeguarding), finances (accountants), and so on. I suspect people who would take those jobs would either be groupies or looking for a quiet life and thus things don’t improve.
The faithful really need to stop giving money to this shower, who will either waste it or pamper themselves with it, if it doesn’t go to legal expenses for kiddy fiddlers.
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If Dermo had got 210 million for Clonliffe he could have spent 60 million on homes for the poor and still had 150 million for the diocese.
The housing could have been called Archbishop Martin Mews.
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Francis is not as favourable to Opus Dei as his two immediate predecessors, who between them appointed 30 Opus Dei priests as bishops. He appointed 4 to date. The current prelate, in office since 2017 is not a bishop. It’s highly unlikely that an Opus Dei member will succeed DM – especially with C. Brown out of the equation.
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@9.05am Are you appointing new bishops now? I wouldn’t pay too much heed to your poor analysis.
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The Church of God does not need ‘managers’ or ‘financial gurus’ we need people imbued with the values of the Gospel with professional competencies. These highly paid ‘Drumcondracrats’ have become a self-serving cabal seeking to run the diocesan administration on a business model. They have no theological formation and regard canon law as an inconvenience to be easily circumvented. The see the faithful in the pews as mere potential donors. This was evidenced in the disastrous ‘Joy of the Gospel’ fund raising initiative they spearheaded about four years ago which drew relentless public criticism. Under this ‘master plan’ clergy were invited to target people of means in their parishes and ‘invite them round to tea’ to put the hammer on them for cash. Some clerical idiots complied but thankfully the vast majority saw through it as a cynical use of the ordained for a highly unethical money grabbing exercise that amounted to a form of abuse of the vulnerable elderly.
They (Drumcondracrats) treat clergy as minions in their service and enjoy Diarmuid Martin’s unquestioning approbation. Indeed their treatment of clergy models what they have seen in his dealing and utterances and his appalling lack of respect for the priests. These are the ‘advisors’ who walked the diocese into a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk deal for the sale of Clonliffe – a deal now exposed as a complete rip off lining the coffers of the GAA at the expense of the people of the Diocese whose pennies paid for Clonliffe. This deal does not stand up to scrutiny and cries out for investigation. It represents the pinnacle of a period of maladministration and complete lack of pastoral leadership. Why, o why, is Pope Francis dilly-dallying in ridding Dublin of this disastrous man.
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It is more than likely that you will get another disastrous man.
The Church specialises in appointing disastrous men.
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Rev Maniple Littleton…..please make a reappearance and lighten up our day …..
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Yes Pat that picture is his house
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Why does one man need a 4 storey Georgian House? If the archbishop lived there it might make some sense.
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9.13: Aren’t you so pathetic and miserable that to brighten up your day, you want to subject a priest to ridicule, sneering mockery and name calling? Go and find GOD and seek mercy for your evil, sinfulness and wrongdoing. You must indeed be very spiritually lost and impoverished. You are a sad creature. I would suggest a little therapy to get you beyond your infantilic immaturity.
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The death has occurred of the Right Reverend Monsignor Seamus Conway, Pastor Emeritus, Parish of the Assumption, Booterstown, Co. Dublin.
Funeral arrangements will be announced later.
May he rest in Peace.
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DM – A BIG SPENDER?
The image emerging of DM on the blog yesterday and today is that of a big spender with very expensive personal tastes and not a good manager of either people or money.
To me and others, this is a totally new image.
Someone mentioned cigars. Is he a cigar, fine wine and gourmet food lover?
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He has yellow teeth because of his cigar habit. He certainly does not buy his cigars and wine in the local Aldi. Dermott spun the humble tale that “he does not eat out in restaurants in Dublin”. I assure your readers that the food, wine and cigars in his house are much more expensive on any given night than having a meal out in Dublin.
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I once knew a now deceased priest who liked his cigars and always said: “They were rolled on the bronzed thighs of Cuban virgins”.
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How do you know he has yellah teeth? Some people have yellowing on their teeth due to medication and nutrition issues, doesn’t mean you’re a chain smoker or speedballer.
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Cigar smoking has always been an expensive hobby. Winston Churchill’s valet was shocked to discover that in 2 days Winston would smoke the value of the valet’s weekly salary. Today, Ireland is one of the most expensive places on earth to buy Cuban cigars. There are only 2 good shops left in Dublin, and you would pay 20 to 40 Euro each for a decent Cuban cigar.
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Is the tobacco shop opposite Trinity College still going?
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James Fox (Cigars and Whiskey) is still open opposite Trinity. Also Peterson’s in Nassau Street (mostly pipes and tobacco) and The Decent Cigar Emporium further up Grafton Street.
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Here are a few more clerical smokers : http://stholg.blogspot.com/2012/07/smoking-priests.html
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PS Where is Paul Callan’s renovated house located?
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Directly next to AB’s house on Drumcondra Road
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Joseph Merrick also lived in a house directly across the road. It is owned by the diocese too. It is strange that a lay person was housed in diocesan property.
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Are the pictures I’ve added to the blog of the 4 storey Georgian House pictures of Paul Callan’s House?
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Number 79 to be exact, yes, +Pat, it is three story over a split level basement. Go on Google Maps and see yourself, the back garden leads onto the driveway of AB House.
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That house looks as it could accommodate 4 or 6 priests with two roomed dwellings.
You have that house, Joe Merrick’s house and the 450,000 Clontarf pad. How many of these properties does Dublin own?
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I think those houses are substantial?
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Yes. It is the first house directly beside the gates of Archbishops House – Georgian style.
1.2 million renovations and purchase
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What!!!
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The GAA was the only show in town, as far as Dermo was concerned. The diocese entered exclusive talks with it. They should have invited expressions of interest from bidders, which of course could have included the GAA and then had a shortlist and a bidding process.
As it was, Dermo treated it like his personal property and pushed ahead with his pet project.
I cannot wait for that depressed and depressing deskman to retire.
https://www.irishnews.com/news/2018/10/16/news/catholic-church-and-gaa-in-talks-about-sale-of-former-dublin-seminary-near-croke-park-1459251/
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Back in 1982, Magill described Archbishop Ryan as the richest man in Ireland. The mysterious St Lawrence O’Toole Trust, the company that manages and owns the dioceses property assets, had 473 houses back then. With a reduced need for housing with fewer curates and houses that can be sold can you imagine how much that property portfolio is worth now, with the huge increase in Dublin property prices?
Dublin diocese needs to be broken up. There is the farce that you have micro dioceses in Ireland and two huge ones. One time Dermo said that if he shaved off ten Dublin parishes they would form the second biggest diocese in Ireland.
https://magill.ie/archive/richest-man-ireland
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It seems to me that the assets of Dublin need reordering so that investment interest can replace some of the money not coming in through collections.
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Don’t worry about anything-I am the God of this World and I will sort everything out! No need to smell like the sheep or to live like a common man.
When THE ILLUMINATION OF CONSCIENCE comes later this year I will give you your ransom. Keep on “protecting the church” and covering up your sins-I will provide enough to pay off Fillup McCaverty and any other troublemakers.Just trust me £££££>
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FATHER GAY SLATTERY
What ever happened to Gay Slattery, the PP of Clontarf
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This ‘deal’ shows how utterly inept Diarmuid Martin is as a leader. He had a fanciful idea that the GAA would preserve the buildings and build social housing. Only 10% is going to social housing which is what builders are legally obliged to give anyway!!! The GAA have made massive profits and they will continue to sell more plots of land from right under Diarmuid’s snotty nose.
To add insult to injury, the GAA then wheeled Diarmuid out to Muslim prayers in Croke Park. I bet all the big wigs where in their Sky Box looking and laughing at their new puppet who just made them millions 👏😂
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That about sums it up! What a plonker.
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PAUL CALLAN’S HOUSE
Is the picture I’ve added above Paul Callan’s house?
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Yes! Look at Google satellite view – a secret garden leads into Archbishops house. Joseph Merrick lives in a similar house on the other side.
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The house that Joseph Merrick lived in has a tunnel that leads across the road to the gate lodge in archbishops house constructed in 1919. Michael Collins would use it while hiding in the Gate Lodge.
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Has Merrick moved out now?
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Gate Lodge is occupied by the former caretakers wife, the caretaker passed on a few years ago – Jimmy is still the head of facilities but doesn’t live in on the campus.
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Sell the Georgian townhouses occupied by Callan and Albus and you’d get 2-3 million. Review other surplus properties and sell them, via a proper open process not based on the Archbishop’s personal preferences and there would be no need to make redundancies.
I would sell all the remaining Drumcondra site, including AB house and Mater Dei, and move the Archbishop into the presbytery at the pro, and get modern already constructed offices for the staff and move some staff to some of the surplus property in Maynooth, which is in the diocese. Though post-covid and the move to working from home it should mean that the diocese needs less office space overall.
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No. He will be moving out after his 100k redundancy. Dermo is making sure he and his wife have enough money for a mortgage. Did gannon get the same help when he restarted his life? I think not.
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nice coincidence you are eligible for substantial redundancy when your master is about to vacate office – Albus would have been put out of the job when the new bishop is appointed – give the statutory redundancy who authorises these pigs to squander parishioners money as if it were their own?
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Did Albus get married to a woman? Will wonders ever cease !
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Yes Pat, that is Callan’s pad.
By the way did you hear that your old Nemesis Seamus Conway has shuffled off this mortal coil?
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No. Didn’t hear. End of an era for me
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Who is Seamus Conway?
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The former Dean of Clonliffe.
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Monsignor Callan also has a bolt-hole in the country!
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A proper gentleman. One would need to get away from that dingy property in Drumcondra.
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Pat, I would like to further add that Fr. Paul is a good person. Diarmuid is the problem.
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I have never met Paul or heard anything negative about him.
I imagine working for DM has its challenges.
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Agree 110% – Fr. Paul is indeed a wonderful person, very spiritual, kind and compassionate, really very good guy.
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It is planned to relocate the Diocesan support services of around 80 people to a smaller, purpose built modern pastoral centre with meeting rooms, educational facilities and office space and oratory.
Now they might only need for 37 if 43 of the 80 were made redundant?
https://www.dublindiocese.ie/statement-on-holy-cross-college-clonliffe/
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Why do bishops live in big houses in exclusive areas. It’s very sad😞
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And diocesan moderators of the curia live in 4 storey Georgian houses with secret gardens 😃
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The rushed disposal of Church properties seems liked an out of control closing down sale. Near Clonliffe, the St Patrick’s College teacher training college has been gifted to DCU, despite it being owned by the diocese and the diocese having subsidised it by over 2M euro a year. DCU has moved some of it’s general student non teacher training Departments, such as history and geography, into that very valuable property, which includes the historic Belvedere House. That site is probably worth as much as Clonliffe. With the Paris and Maynooth north campuses given away for a song, and All Hallows sold for much less than its worth, property developers are feeding off the carcass.
There is an argument that the Church neither needs not should have these assets anymore. If that is so, the disposals should be done in a clear transparent and professional way, with sales used to maximise funds for eg the diocese’s current mission, for redress, for clearing debt, for employing staff, for pensions, for charitable purposes and not as a quick buck scheme for property developers, universities and the GAA.
It’s all so unprofessional. When selling Clonliffe, the diocese could easily have had as a condition of the sale (referred to as a covenant) that if the property was sold on again within say 5 years, the diocese would have claw-back on some of the further proceeds. That’s fairly standard with big commercial transactions. But Dermo knew best.
A similar shady deal occurred with Maynooth. Maynooth University admitted as such when they told the Dail that they had acquired the Maynooth north campus in a deal agreed in 1997 but the money did not change hands until 1999, though the asking price stayed the same. The MU President said that what had been a very good deal for them turned into an excellent one with the big rise in land and property values..
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Maynooth University bought the north campus from the seminary for IR£4.5 million, which was probably a tenth of its true worth, at a minimum.
Similar behind the scenes deals are now going on for the disposal of the historic south campus, with the usual claptrap about social housing in the grounds. It will be another instance where the Church is taken for a ride. I tried to alert Michael Kelly of the Irish Catholic to this, given the millions of Church money that has been ploughed into that place, but he wasn’t interested.
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The Vatican has ruled the Abbot of Ampleforth must not return to his community four years after stepping aside over allegations. It has not made any decisions as yet regarding the Abbots of Portglenone or Silverstream but all the allegations are different in each case.
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Why is the Abbot of Portglenone under investigation?
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The Abbot of Portglenone will not let anyone replace him over the past 20yrs or more. Rome has been investigating. The place is finished and all the land has already been sold off.
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Is the Abbot General in Rome not acting?
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There is speculation in certain circles that the bishop of Raphoe will be appointed a cardinal in the next tranche.
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Not much life in that boyo!
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Did the police investigate the Raphoe diocese late last year?
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4:11
Is it not the case an Abbot is elected by the monastic community? A term lasts for 6 years.
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I think the Abbot is refusing to step down when his term is up.
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6 years perhaps but as someone else pointed out Abbot Kelly has been there for over 20yrs. Can people read the facts properly?
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Portglenone will close.
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Me and a bunch of our students from
the chaplaincy used to go to Ampleforth abbey for Lectio weekends during the Summer (I didn’t go last year, or this, because I didn’t want ‘you-know-who’ homing in on them as well!).
All the ordinary dolls and gals in our Archdioce have been really nice, even the Sisters.
I feel they all knew what I was up against, and that I was opposing a giant of sorts.
However, I have to say I did walk into the whole thing whilst wearing rose-tinted glasses.
These glasses were shattered, but I believe the Lord can make good out of anything: night becomes day; tears turned into joy, and my favourite saying… Love must, and will, conqour all.
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6:14.
How was that allowed go on for years?
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Thats the norm in the RCC.
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What did Martin do with the money??
He sold Clonliffe and then told the priests council.
Asked why he did not inform the council
He replied with a roar “ because I don’t trust you”
So he won’t tell where the money is…… Is there a Swiss bank account ?……. “my time as ambassador in Geneva “
As he won’t tell then speculation reigns.
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Did DM really say that or are you exaggerating?
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VATICAN FINANCES
Maybe DM will get Pell’s old job looking after Vatican finances and get a red hat too?
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If that story of him not consulting the Priests council in advance of the sale is true there is a serious canonical case to answer and Rome would have more than a passing interest.
Is there any verification about Fr. Andrew O’Sullivan’s alleged resignation as VF?
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Bishop Pat Buckley,
I have to commend Fr. Andrew O’Sullivan. As we know, priests wages were cut by 25%. But not all of them were cut – this did NOT apply to VF’s, Vicar for Priests Ciaran O’Carroll or Bishops Eamonn, Ray or Diarmuid.
This means that Fr. Andrew stepped down knowing he would lose money. He tackled AB Martin on priest finances and was axed for doing so. Diarmuid will not allow certain discussions which show his inadequacies. Well done Andrew for having courage and standing by your morals. Thank You.
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Why did Dermo not ask for auxiliary bishops? He says that when he goes there will have to be auxiliary bishops appointed. That implies that he blocked their being appointments? Why? It’s not as if cold fish Dermo is pastoral or hands on and wanted to do it?
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Dermo does not want anyone challenging his complete power. History won’t be kind to Dermo! Mark those words
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“Sweetheart deal” criticised. Though the Labour politician is mitaken in saying it went to the highest bidder. Thanks to Diarmuid Martin there was only one bidder.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gaa-and-archdiocese-criticised-over-100m-sweetheart-deal-for-prime-dublin-land-38195397.html
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Annette O Donnell is also getting a big money payout. She has all the dirt!
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She also reads this blog on a daily basis. Hi Annette!
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How ya
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The diocese of Dublin does badly out of property deals. The former Trocaire and bishops conference offices at 169 Booterstown Avenue, located in a nice part of Dublin, were controversially sold cheaply.
These records show that the parochial house in Booterstown was sold for €91,000 in 2019. Neighbouring properties went for around five times that. Whoever got a house in Booterstown for €91,000 got an amazing bargain.
https://www.daft.ie/price-register/dublin/blackrock/booterstown-avenue/?fr=touch
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GAA man here. interested in buying Maynooth College. Want to put a farm on it. The Pope said it’s good for the auld environment. I’ll give ya €200 euros. first and final offer. them walls need a lick of paint, it’ll cost me a fortune.
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I’ll let you have it for €150.00
Tell your people to talk to my people.
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I recall that a similar occurrence took place over here with the sale of +Bransfield’s house or as my Roscommon grandma used to style it Bishop’s Palace. Evidently a real estate agent picked it up for a song from the Vatican II cult authorities who were anxious to unload it quam celerrime.
I really never heard of Buy High, Sell Low until now.
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From what is being said here today, DM is guilty of absolutely appalling stewardship of the resources of the archdiocese of Dublin. He has played fast and loose with, literally squandering, very valuable assets that would have been vital for the Church’s maintenance, in the straitened times ahead. It has every appearance of man who has acted deliberately and wilfully so as to actually harm the Church in the future. Absolutely shocking.
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When my local church sold part of the vast unused land to invest in a new parish centre the drumcondra-gang-sters came banging on the door for the residual balance from the sale v cost to build the new parish centre – I WAS FUMING – I cancelled my standing order and will only put donations in the shrines as a result.
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There needs to be very stringent new procedures put in place where one archbishop cannot spend like its Christmas.
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Look in the diocesan accounts. There are 5 or 6 large trust funds based on 19th century legacies and big collections organised by Cardinal Cullen. The idea used to be that you preserved the capital and used the investment income. Over the last few years the capital is being spent with abandon. What should be long-term income providers for the diocesan charities are being whittled away very quickly, with no regard to future needs. It’s as if he does not expect the church to be around much longer in the future. He got legal advice to spend the funds collected by Cullen for a new cathedral instead on maintaining the horrible old Pro-Cathedral, on the basis that a cathedral will never be built.
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Diarmuid Martin strikes me as a man who no faith whatsoever. The Church for him was simply a “career”. Something very very strange about that man indeed.
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…and the haircut? honest ta God, he must do it himself. Get a hairclippers and do a number 2 cut all over.
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who will be the next bishop of the Oratory?
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TBD.
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wont happen for another 15-20 years
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The retired Arch of Glasgow, Mario Conti lives in Newlands, Glasgow in a property worth over £700k whilst the current Arch Philip lives in Pollokshields in a property of a similar value. Both are in very affluent areas and could be sold and the money given to the poor. These men clearly are too good to live amongst their people.
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In a poor working class city like Glasgow 1.5 million on bishops houses in way OTT.
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Exactly +Pat. I also know that the curtains for +Philip’s pad cost over £3k. Nice men but totally out of touch. I suspect that most Bishop’s are in the same boat.
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Pat @5.12pm Yes, by Rome investigating Portglenone I meant the Abbot General in Rome. That investigation has been ongoing for sometime now. I think they are just waiting for the monastery to fold in order to get rid of himwhich will happen sooner rather than later. Celsus loved turning up to big occasions in his mitre. They will cash in on the big land sell off.
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The Abbot General is an Irish man
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According to this, Celsus was abbot for 43 years. I think that there are only about 8 monks left in the abbey.
https://www.ocso.org/monastery/bethlehem/
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I keep saying here that the real model for the RC church is the mediaeval city state complete with ideas of ownership, fiefdom and patronage. Today’s article is perhaps the best illustration of this I have seen. The bishop is the king and every one and every thing in his demesne belongs to him and he can dispose as he sees fit. If you get his patronage you’re laughing, lower officials can shut up and the peasants are of no consequence whatsoever.
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only the lonely
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To be frank most of the bishops act like the church won’t be here in another couple of decades. However their actions help to ensure it won’t be (and bad asset management is only part of it – ensuring no or only poor priests are ordained is another). There comes a point where beyond mediocrity these actions can only be intentional and it is reasonable to wonder why.
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Mediocrity is a problem. Lack of faith is a problem. Dysfunctional personality is a problem. Lack of pastoral compassion is a problem.
“What Christ preached was a Kingdom. What we got was a church”.
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Joe Duffy of Clogher about the Church “ach sure it’ll see us out for our day”. I declare to God these men are atheists and worse.
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@6.40pm You will find Abbot Kelly of Portglenone was in charge not for 20 years but 30 years or so. This in itself is a scandal. The older boys didn’t seem able to challenge him. Added to that was that Kelly never seemed to be there residing in the monastery. Many questions there.
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So, where was he residing ?
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It’s all very strange. In 2019, Celsus Kelly was appointed by the Cistercian Generalate as superior ad nutum.
If, for various reasons, the community is unable to elect an abbot for itself, then, as a very exceptional measure, a superior, known as a superior ad nutum, is appointed for it. Once appointed, he has the same responsibility as an elected superior, and the community has lost nothing of its autonomy.
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He travelled extensively including other monssteries mostly abroad. Portglenone is no longer viable.
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Dublin diocese compiles two reports to the Charity Regulator. One is for the charities of the RC Archdiocese of Dublin (in effect the core diocesan accounts) and the other is for the parishes.
The core accounts show that Dermo is burning through the patrimony at an alarming rate. In the 2018 accounts we see that fully 1/4 of the Poor of Dublin Fund, built up over a century, was spent in one year. The remaining capital of the de Le Saussaye fund, in excess of €1m and dating from the 19th century and producing income from 1930 onwards, was spent entirely in one year.
That was great for the beneficiaries that year (mostly Crosscare) but it means that with the capital gone or going, that is a one-off expenditure that cannot be repeated when all the money is spent. It’s probably all gone now.
It’s just not prudent.
For the first time, the assets of the former Mater Dei appear. It is only €500,000. That must be how much they got for that site.
https://www.dublindiocese.ie/2018-annual-report-financial-statements/
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Sorry for my language but JESUS CHRIST! Diarmuid Martin has a lot to answer for.
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Pat it seems you have opened another can of worms with Dublin and the sale of land with this other place now portglenon
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Looks like it!
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Pat, I heard from reliable sources that Andres O Sullivan still retains his post as VG…Yes, some of what was stated by others tiday isxtrye but nitvsll of it. Don’t young hunk you should verify speculation before printing anything? There are some very angry and disillusiined clerics in Dublin Diocese, including myself. However, I think truth should established before innuendo takes over and destroys the integrity of others.
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8.92… Bloody fast moving predictive text…..ruins messages and comments!!!
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“Young hunk” 😂😉
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@7.29pm You are correct that Celsus Kelly was appointed last year ad natum by the Generalate in Rome but there is the problem. As a lay cistercian and not connected to any Irish monastic community I can advise that the Vatican are now involved regarding this particular decision. The Vatican believes the Generalate is not impartial enough to reach this decision and have begun its own investigation in conjunction with the Ordinary where this monastery resides. There have been major concerns prior to this, going back many years, as to why a very able community back then could not elect a new Abbot. It is believed the reason was fear.
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8:02
Fear of what?
Why didn’t the Generalate sort the problem years ago? It’s very odd.
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Ad natum? You probably mean ‘ad nutum,’ But more likely, ‘ad mortem.’
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PHIL HOGAN HAS RESIGNED.
Chucky r law
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Bishop Pat, I don’t think people who are posting can compare the purchase of land in Dublin/GAA with the sale of the whole Portglenone monastery site. A P McCoy is a local man and his homeplace is not far up the Bann from Portglenone at Moneyglass.
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Has A P McCoy the jockey bought all the monastery land?
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It’s sad, Bp Pat, I know, but most of your readers will be more interested in the “new rampant homo” in Scotland than the Clonlife land deals.
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He is lovely – leave him alone!
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You speak for your own filthy mind @8.42pm wee Scot but the blog covers stuff from not only bonnie Scotland. It’s good to hear what happens there but some of us prefer stuff nearer to home too ye know. Afore ye go and a wee dram. Don’t think you are getting enough neeps and tatties.
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There is no proof to any of those comments at the start. I am a priest in his diocese and know him well and that stuff is total nonsense. He likes a selfie and enjoys nice meals. He is only just starting out – give him a break.
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Here is the parochial house in Booterstown sold a few months ago for 91,500.
https://propertypriceregisterireland.com/details/the_parochial_house_69_booterstown_avenue_blackrock_co_dublin_ireland-420099/
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