As a result, the organisation, which has a branch in Dublin's Abbey Street, has now returned to profitability after several years of losses which left it with a deficit of Euro1.11m.

According to the accounts, it made a profit of Euro34,359 in the two years between May 2004 and last April. They also state that the branch's deficit has been funded by loans from individual members of the Church of Scientology worldwide and from other branches of the organisation.

According to a director of the Church of Scientology in Dublin, Gerard Ryan, most of the organisation's Irish revenue comes from donations from participants in its "spiritual counselling and scripture study" services.

He also said that a smaller proportion of its revenue came from the sale of the scriptures, which are based on the writings of the organisation's founder L Ron Hubbard. He said that the organisation now has around 400 members in the country and now plans to open up further branches here.

Ryan said that the organisation hoped that this would help achieve its overarching goal which was "to create a civilisation on earth with no war, crime and insanity".