THE FINANCIAL position of environmental charity An Taisce has moved into the black after a few difficult years.
In a report in advance of the charity’s annual general meeting at the end of the month, treasurer Eric Conroy gave details of a small surplus of €1,400 for the end of 2007, compared with losses of €18,000 in 2006 and €51,000 in 2005.
Mr Conroy said the surplus would have been €45,000 higher if planned funds from Government relating to planning work in 2007 had been received. He was confident confident the funds would be forthcoming shortly.
“We acknowledge with thanks that this addition to our funds results from increased State funding to the Environmental NGO Secretariat from the new Minister for the Environment John Gormley.”
The charity, which is 60 years old, experienced a fall in investment income, he said.
And income from the education unit, which includes the Green Schools programme and the Blue Flags beach scheme, dropped by €40,000 in 2007.
An Taisce wrote off €35,000 in project funding for the Booterstown Marsh in south Dublin, which had to be returned to the EU. Membership subscriptions went up in 2007 to over €88,000, from €67,700 in 2006. The increase was due in part to a failure to collect direct debits from 1,000 members in 2006.
