IWAI Annual General Meeting held in The Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth,
on March 30th 2007.
 

The 2007 Annual General Meeting was held on 30th March 2007 in the Glenroyal Hotel Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

92 members attended the meeting

President’s Address

Brian Cassells, IWAI President, stated that during his term of office to date, he has visited all but two of the Branches of IWAI. It has been a very busy year for the Association, and he attended many events and meetings held throughout the country. Members of the executive travelled to Birmingham to attend the IWA Conference. Brian noted the great level of liaison between the IWA and the British Waterways Association.

In the role of part-time Project and Development Officer, Colin Becker has responded to a number of key government proposals and regulations.

Nuala Redmond was thanked for the wonderful job of editing the IWN on a quarterly basis. Michael Slevin, IWAI’s web-master was also thanked for his ongoing work for the Association.

He thanked all the members of the executive for their commitment and hard work throughout the year. Brian continued to say that the Association is looking forward to the re-opening of the Royal Canal next year and hopefully the Ulster Canal in the near future.

Secretary’s Report

Secretary Carmel Meegan, outlined some of the IWAI activities in 06/07.

A very successful boat jumble was held in Carrick on Shannon, it is hoped that this will now become an annual event. The IWAI stand at the Boat Show held in the RDS Dublin was very well attended.

Sales from the IWAI online shop were very strong, and the Association thanked Dave McCabe for his focus and time given to running it.

A new Health & Safety Policy is now in place and an interim Fast Craft Policy and Code of Conduct on fast craft was also introduced. Cruise in Company Guidelines were devised and branches are recommended to use these when holding rallies, other events etc. Improvements on the waterways in the past year include new jetties and facilities in Carrick-on-Shannon, new jetties at Ardowen, Enniskillen, holding jetties at Portumna Bridge, new marina at New Ross.

Presentation of Annual Accounts

Treasurer, John Corrigan presented the accounts for the year end October 2006. The accounts were circulated to members in the recent issue of the IWN.

John stated that the Directors have the responsibility under the companies act to keep proper books and records for the Association and branch accounts are maintained by each Treasurer and reviewed by the National Treasurer. He said it was a pleasure to look at most branch accounts but sadly some are struggling, however John is happy to work with those Branch Treasurers personally.

The Annual Accounts were adopted unanimously.

Reports

Brenda Ainsworth (membership secretary) reported the figures on ‘live’ memberships on the register as follows:

2005/06: 2390 (1113 paid)
2006/07: 2486 (1644 paid)

Members 2005/06 3920
Members 2006/07 4183

Retention

New members 2005: 484 - Lapsed members 2005 481
New members 2006: 422 - Lapsed members 2006 325

Reminders are sent out by e-mail and renewal forms are available in the IWN Magazine  Lists to branches are sent on a regular basis and are also available on request.  The lapsed member’s survey was circulated to 600 lapsed members and 400 current members. To date 220 responses have been received and results will be compiled and available at the member’s conference.

Liaising and Lobbying

Greg Whelan reported that the Members Conference is taking place on 21st April in the Radisson Hotel, Athlone. It is five years since a similar one was held and he hoped that as many members as possible will attend and offer their support. He also prepared the information for the annual IWN calendar. He was involved on the boat show committee and attended various meeting with Government bodies

Boating and Leisure

John Dolan said that since joining the Executive, he has been on a learning curve as to how the Executive and Boating & Leisure Committee can work within the organisation and was pleased that many of the existing committee agreed to stay on and new volunteers are very welcome to join. He said that the B & L is there to represent members concerns, needs and ideas and would strongly request that members submit suggestions for inclusion in the plan.

Current activities include: audit of pump-out stations, a list of private marinas with public jetties, a list of fuel outlets with a price watch on fuel charges and pollution awareness.

Heritage and Conservation

Niall Galway reported that local authorities and others are, now using the waterways built heritage database on a regular basis. IWAI have also set the standard for the way built heritage is recorded. This method is being used across the country. During the year, Niall made several presentations on and about recording our waterways' built heritage and has met with developers and provided them with advice and assistance with their waterside developments.

Training was provided to 26 heritage officers and heritage council staff on recording built heritage. Niall said he also wanted to develop a primary schools pack or programme with the Heritage Council to start a water-monitoring program and would also like to embark on building an audio archive of people and memories of those that worked and remember our waterways in the past.

Information

Pauline Fitzgerald reported that the Association had received a fair share of media coverage in 2006 and press releases were well used especially those with regard to the Ulster Canal. Colin Becker and Pauline worked at forging further relationships with journalists in all areas of media, to maintain awareness of IWAI activities. Archived stills photos and live action footage, were used for IWAI events. Throughout the year Pauline worked closely with Treasurer John Corrigan and Editor Nuala Redmond, on account management for Advertising clients of IWN.

Membership Services

Dave McCabe reported that total merchandise sales for 2006 came to approx €16,000. The top three sales items remain the charts of the Shannon, Shannon Erne and Erne, followed by the three guides to the Royal, Barrow and Grand. New items, including RYA books, HBA publication and Lough Ree & its Islands were good sellers. New items for sale will include baseball caps; IWAI mugs, IWAI sports holdalls and IWAI polo shirts will be on sale from Easter.

Dave said that we are considering the purchase of a mobile exhibition trailer that would allow us to be represented at many public waterways events around the country and would afford the IWAI increase public visibility, and include increased merchandise sales and offer support to new branches and members.

RCAG

Ian Bath reported considerable progress towards the full re-opening of the western end of the main line of the Royal Canal in the last year. The culvert at the site of the Longford Bridge on the outskirts of Ballymahon has been replaced by a high level bridge, which opened to traffic in December 2006. From this bridge to Keenagh, a distance of five miles, the canal is in the process of being re-watered and will probably be re-opened for navigation in the summer. The culvert beside Island Bridge at Keenagh is due to be replaced by a high level bridge with a promise of completion by December 2007. The culvert at Ballinamore is due for completion in early 2008. A new lifting bridge at Begnagh is under construction and due for completion by summer 2007. The lock on the Royal at Rinnmount midway between Begnagh and Richmond Harbour has still to be restored.

Waterways Ireland are confidant that all works will be completed by early 2008 and plans are already in the making for a gala re-opening.

Motions

‘That the Articles of Association of the IWAI be amended to allow Junior Membership open to anybody under the age of 18 “

Motion approved

Elections

The following were elected officers of the Association:

• President: Brian Cassells

• Vice-president: Paul Garland

• Hon. Secretary: Carmel Meegan

• Hon. Treasurer: John Corrigan

The following were elected as chairpersons of the standing committees of council:

• Membership Secretary: Brenda Ainsworth

• Boating & Leisure: John Dolan

• Liaison & Lobbying Greg Whelan

• Heritage & Conservation: Niall Galway

• Information: Pauline Fitzgerald

• Membership Supplies: Dave McCabe

The following six members were elected to council:

Damien Delaney, David Killeen, Thomas Meegan, Catriona Hillard, Keith Rowe and Tom Yates

Endeavour Award

The President announced the winners of this year’s Endeavour Cup were The Boyne Restoration Group (Dublin Branch) as a result of their continued efforts and commitment on the restoration of the Boyne Canal.

Members’ Draw

The winner of the electric bike, which was donated by: Kenbay Electric Bikes was Fergal Mooney, Kildare Branch.

The evening was rounded off with some light refreshments

Report by Pauline Fitzgerald, PRO.