Special Meeting Called To Discuss PMS Proposals

The Presbyterian Church is to call a special meeting of its General Assembly to discuss recent developments surrounding the Presbyterian Mutual Society.

In a letter issued yesterday, Tuesday (30 March), the Moderator, Dr Stafford Carson, called the 1200 strong body, representative of every congregation in Ireland, to meet in Church House, Belfast on Tuesday 13 April at 2.00pm.

The business of the Special Assembly, says the letter, is "to consider the present situation for savers in the Presbyterian Mutual Society and to respond to a recent initiative of the Northern Ireland Executive."

"On Monday the First Minister and deputy First Minister announced that they had formulated proposals to resolve the PMS crisis which they intended to submit to both the Prime Minister and Treasury," said the Moderator. "The Church recognises the substantial financial commitment of both the Treasury and the Northern Ireland Executive in this process and appreciates all that has been done by Executive Ministers, local politicians and their officials to reach this point."

"We understand that part of these proposals will involve a financial contribution from the Presbyterian Church. In order to expedite the process we have called this special meeting of the General Assembly, whose decision would be necessary to raise any funds.

"Since a Special Assembly takes 14 days to call, we decided to proceed in the expectancy that any proposed package will have received Treasury approval and that the final details will be made public by the date of our meeting."

The PMS went into administration in November 2008 after a run on deposits when many members realised the society was not covered by new government deposit guarantees.

Normally the Presbyterian Church's General Assembly meets just once a year in June. It is the Church's supreme decision-making body with a membership of some 1200 largely made up of the minister and a lay representative from every congregation in Ireland.

The mechanism exists to call a special meeting when major decisions need to be made which cannot await the next annual meeting which this year is scheduled for 7-10 June 2010.

The Special Assembly will be chaired by current Moderator Dr Stafford Carson. It is expected a report to the Assembly will be sent to all members next week together with resolutions for decision. As with the General Assembly this Special Assembly will be open to the public though only members of Assembly can take part in the debates or vote.

Two Special Assemblies have been held in the last 34 years. In 1978 a Special Assembly was called in November at which the Presbyterian Church suspended its membership of the World Council of Churches and in 1976 a Special Assembly was required to agree the sale of the Crescent Church on Belfast's University Road.

(GK/CD)