The impact of the great national abortion debate last year on the coffers of the Life Institute is revealed in its latest set of financial statements which became available in the Companies Registration Office this week.

Pro Life Institute, the company behind the lobby group run by veteran anti-abortion campaigner Niamh Uí Bhriain, practically emptied its bank account over the course of the year to the end of last August, which was just weeks after the passing of the X case legislation.

Its cash balance shrank to just €304 from about €177,000 a year earlier.

The organisation appears to have run a deficit of about €185,000 over the course of the year when it would have been lobbying intensely against the legislation.

Accumulated deficit
It is now sitting on an accumulated deficit of some €235,000.

The Life Institute may well have emptied its pockets with its lobbying efforts but its financial situation is actually quite secure owing to a near €250,000 interest-free loan that appears to be keeping it afloat.

The accounts say the loan is “interest-free and repayable on demand”.

In fact no repayments at all have been made on the loan in recent years.

Nice terms.