A REPORT in today's Examiner newspaper says the Church of Ireland has a large number of investments in British arms manufacturing companies. A list of investors in British defence firms compiled from company records in London shows that the Church of Ireland Representative Body, Rathmines, Dublin, owns over 50,000 shares in three companies, GEC, Vickers and GKN.
Of these shares, 46,000 - worth more than £150,000 - are held in GEC, the second biggest defence company in Britain.
GEC makes electrical warfare systems and has supplied military hardware to countries with poor human rights records such as Turkey, Indonesia and Nigeria.
The Examiner quoted the chief officer of the Church of Ireland's representative body, Mr Robert Sherwood, as saying of the investments: "We employ investment managers in London. They have discretion to manage these funds within board criteria, board criteria being the protection of capital and generation of income.
"We have looked at ethical questions from time to time and our problem is a question of definition. It's very, very difficult to make an absolute black and white judgment on it."
Mr Joe Murray of the justice and peace group, AFrI, said of the investments: "Any involvement is unacceptable but for churches that normally do such good work, to have shares in this lethal industry is all the more shocking".
Early today, a spokeswoman for the Church of Ireland said a further statement on the church's position would be released this morning.