Donations dropped at the House of Prayer last year
THE controversial House of Prayer in Achill, Co. Mayo, has experienced a dramatic fall in the value of donations made to it.
The House of Prayer, which was founded by housewife visionary Christina Gallagher, still managed to pull in €242,908 in donations and sales.
€159,964 of that was made up of donations. The previous year, it received €400,913 from donors.
The most recent financial accounts for the House of Prayer company show that it made a loss of €167,376 in 2013 with net funds of just €57,013.
It’s the lowest sum of income generated by the religious centre since 1997.
The company could also be hit with a massive Revenue bill following Revenue’s decision to withdraw the company’s charitable status in 2006.
The House of Prayer is appealing the decision but if the decision is not overturned, the company could be liable for a bill of €125,000 before interest.
Christina Gallagher founded the House of Prayer after claiming to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary and receive messages from her.
The House of Prayer was officially opened in 1993 by the then Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Joseph Cassidy.
In the years that followed, thousands of pilgrims regularly travelled to the island, eager to hear the latest message from the Virgin Mary. Many donated sums of money towards the upkeep of the retreat and bought religious objects.
At one point, Ms Gallagher owned four homes, including one in Dublin’s Malahide worth €4m at the height of the boom.
However, in recent years, the House of Prayer has experienced a downturn.
In its heyday in 2002, company records show it had an income of €1,408,775 from sales and donations, giving it an operating profit of €625,685. By 2013, that amount had fallen to €242,908.
Accounts for the ‘Our Lady Queen of Peace House of Prayer (Achill) Limited show that it received €158,954 in donations and another €83,954 in ‘sales of religious objects’ in 2013, the lowest income since 1997.
In 2012, the prayer centre pulled in €400,913 in donations bringing the total income to €483,645 for that year.
Contacted this week for comment a spokesman said: ‘No comment.’