The Annual General Meeting of the IWAI was held in the Lough Ree Yacht Club on Friday 15th. April 2011. The meeting was attended by over ninety members.

The minutes of the previous AGM which had been circulated were proposed for adoption by Sheelagh Wickham and seconded by Jean Kennedy.

There were no matters arising.

Presidents Address;

In his opening address the President Paul Garland welcomed everyone to the meeting, and thanked the Lough Ree Yacht Club for making their facilities available to the IWAI once again.

The Associations major sponsors Yachtsman Euromarine were praised for their continued generous support. Paul also expressed gratitude to Waterways Ireland and those who advertised in the IWN for their continued support.

This year saw the formation of the Power Boat Branch – a non-geographical branch whose main interests are in Power and Trailer Boating.

This, Paul reminded the attendance was the end of his three years presidency of the Association – a position that he was honoured to hold. He thanked and praised the Executive that had supported him throughout and commented that the debate on most topics at meetings showed a wealth of knowledge, interest and deep understanding of the needs of the Association.

The membership he noted was made up of a diversity of people and interests whose involvement spread from the newly formed Power Boat Club to the Heritage Boat Association, not to mention the enormous commitment of the RCAG. The Association of course also dove tails with other organisations, such as the RYA, ISA, and Waterways Ireland. Indeed Paul made special mention of the new understanding and relationship between Waterways Ireland and the IWAI.

Paul now, in passing the helm to Greg Whelan, wished him every success and felt that he would get the same support from his wife Brenda as he had got from Patsy and his family.

Before finishing Paul paid a special to his wife Patsy and family without whose support, this wonderful experience would not have been possible.

Accounts;

The Treasurer John Corrigan was happy to report that the accounts of the IWAI were in good order – the figures had been circulated to all members. The cash reserve now stands at 290,000Euro.

John noted that by agreement with the Executive that there was additional expenditure on this years Shannon Rally, as it was the 50th. Anniversary of the event.

He stressed once again that the IWAI should not get caught up in fund accumulation. John also noted that the quality of figures from the Branches continues to improve, and of course he assured the branches that he was always available to assist as/if required. The development of a web-based for membership and accounts should further assist and ease the pressure on all concerned.

The re-appointment of Robert Duffy & Associates as Auditors was approved by the meeting.

RCAG;

In the absence of Ian Bath From the RCAG, Derry Smyth read out the following report;

“2010 was a memorable year for the RCAG and the events that took place at Richmond Harbour on 1st October were in celebration of 36 years of community involvement in the restoration of the Royal Canal from the Liffey through to the Shannon. A momentous achievement.

I think this is an appropriate occasion to recall that the campaign to restore the Royal was launched in 1974 by the Dublin Branch of the IWAI and rapidly gained the support of other branches, and in particular of the Athlone Branch. It was just a few weeks later that the RCAG was formed. This was on the occasion when a small number of IWAI members on the north side of Dublin joined forces with some local residents to improve the condition of the canal in the Castleknock/Blanchardstown area. It was an enormous success and over the years this approach to restoration came to be emulated along the whole length of the canal.

Moreover, it was the success of the IWAI's campaign that contributed to the decision by Government to transfer ownership of the Royal, along with the Grand, from CIE to the Office of Public Works, thus ensuring that both canals would be preserved as part of Ireland's heritage for the benefit of future generations. These waterways eventually passed into the ownership of Waterways Ireland and it has been thanks to their excellent work and co-operation that the Royal is close to being fully restored.

The project is not quite complete as, although dredged, the 8km branch line into Longford town has still to be fully restored. Not a simple matter as there are two low-level culverted road crossings. But the good news is that Waterways Ireland are due to commence a feasibility study of the restoration of the line later this year.

In Spencer Dock in Dublin there are still some problems to be sorted out. But here, too, there has been considerable progress over the last twelve months. The new sea lock is now fully operational, and within the last few days the ESB has re-routed the cables that for years had obstructed passage under Sheriff Street bridge. Negotiations with Dublin City Council regarding the future of this bridge are also progressing satisfactorily. Work is well underway on stage one of the DDDA's linear park project at Spencer Dock and Waterways Ireland is also busy clearing the navigation channel through the dock.

With the canal once again connected to the main network I trust that many IWAI members will be looking forward to a journey through the Royal in 2011. Do come and see for yourselves this waterway that your Association, in close collaboration with the RCAG, played such an important role in bringing about its restoration.

Ian Bath”

Election of Directors;

In the absence of more than one nomination for each of the positions the following members were elected to the Board;

President Gregory Whelan
Vice-President Carmel Meegan
Hon. Secretary Derry Smyth
Treasurer John Corrigan
Membership Secretary Jean Kennedy
Education and Training Sheelagh Wickham
Public Relations Tommy McLoughlin
Liaison Dave McCabe
Heritage Brian Cassells
Membership Retention Joe O’Dubhghaill

The following nominees were elected to the Council;

Donal O’Siochain, Thomas Meegan, Sam Hegarty, Siobhan Clusky, Bernard Fitzpatrick, Stephen Maher.

Endeavour Trophy;

Nominations for the Endeavour Trophy had been received for a wide group of people and Associations as follows;

Noel Griffin, Dave McCabe, Niall O’Flaherty and Trevor Northage for their efforts in charting the Waterways.
R.C.A.G. for their commitment to the restoration of the Royal Canal.
James Haffey for his encouragement of restoration work on the Newry Canal.
Newry Portadown Branch for their restoration work on the Newry Canal.
Colin Becker for his devotion to the Waterways of Ireland.
Shannon Boat Rally for their Contributions to RNLI
John McKeown and Waterways Ireland for the restoration of the Royal Canal.
Claidhbh O’Gibne for his contribution to the Boyne Navigation Branch.

The Award which is decided upon by a vote of the Directors was made to John McKeown and his team from Waterways Ireland for their work on the restoration on the Royal Canal. Rosanna Nolan accepted the Award on his behalf.

Incoming Presidents Report;

As is traditional in the Association the incoming President takes office after the business of the AGM is completed. In his address Greg Whelan thanked the members for electing him to the position, and expressed the hope that he would live up to their expectations. He thanked Paul for his guidance over the last three years and looked forward to working with him in the future. Carmel Meegan was welcomed back as a Director and most particularly as Vice President. The Association he remarked was made up a four parts;

The Member – the stern gear that gives the association the ability to go forward
The Branch – the hull that keeps the organisation afloat and visible
The Council – that steers the organisation in the right direction
The Executive – the skipper making the decisions and sustaining the vessel

Greg went on to say that as individuals and as an organisation we are in difficult times and must work together on all things. Greg stated that he would put in place ways to support a) the member through initiatives like the on-line system, b) the branches through training and the new accounts system, c) council through training and greater input into policy, and d) the executive through leadership. He continued to say that “As an organisation we have achieved a lot and there is a lot more to do.” To highlight a few he mentioned; The Boyne and its restoration work, Lough Derg and the Erina Canal, the Lagan and its recent guidebook, Dublin and the Graving Dock, Newry Portadown and their Lock restoration work, and Carrick on Shannon and its work in preserving the living memory of the Association.

In this regard special thanks were given to Fr. Paddy Dowling and the Rev. James McMarry Taylor who have loaned their photographic archives to the Association. To give the members a taste of the material a DVD was presented to each attending member.

In finishing up his address, Greg introduced Kevin Clabby who then took the membership through the proposed developments at Dunrovin.

Derry Smyth
Hon. Secretary


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IWAI Annual General Meeting 2011 on Friday 15th April 2011 at Lough Ree Yacht Club, Athlone, Co. Westmeath