Council Meeting Report 25th September 2010
The Mullingar Park Hotel, Dublin Road, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
1 Introduction
The President, Paul Garland, welcomed all the delegates to the meeting.
This he said was the first meeting of the IWAI Council under its new brief
as a Policy body to the Executive whose elected members have now become
Directors of the IWAI and accepted the associated responsibilities.
The President stressed that this new body must feed the thoughts and
ideas from the Branches to the Executive Committee through the Council.
2 Minutes
The Minutes of the last Council meeting had been circulated and printed
in the Inland Waterways News and as the present Council was considered a new
body with a revised role they were not considered relevant to this meeting.
As a result no “matters arising” were considered.
3 Development of Council
The President introduced a proposal to Council that had been discussed at
a recent Executive meeting. He proposed that the IWAI would initiative a
Stakeholder’s Council for waterway user groups as a communication medium.
This council could include groupings such as RYA, ISA. IBRA and perhaps
organisations such as the IFA and Angler Groups.
The topic was opened to the floor and a lively discussion ensued. The
main points of which are detailed below;
- The new Council would not replace IWAI Council
- IWAI must be careful about what it is creating
- IWAI must be seen as the lead organisation
- Selling the idea to the proposed stakeholders might be difficult
- IWAI could act as a valuable conduit between the IFA and Waterways
Ireland
- IWAI must be prepared to give a platform to those who oppose IWAI
ideals and establish common ground.
- The groupings should be from all Waterways and not just Shannon based
ones.
In concluding the debate the President requested and received approval to
develop this idea further through the Executive Committee.
4 Finance
Treasurer John Corrigan reported the following financial balances;
- Balance at Bank €65,000.00
- Creditors € 9,000.00
- Debtors €15,000.00
The Treasurer informed the delegates about an on-line accounting system
that was available to registered charities.
It appears to be ideal for managing the Accounts of IWAI Branches and if
used would simplify the production of the Associations Annual accounts.
Apart from a once-off registration fee of 500 Euro the service is offered
free of charge.
As there appears to be a possibility of a Regulator being appointed to
control the activities of charitable organisations this would be an ideal
opportunity to work towards a unified approach to the production of Branch
Accounts.
The meeting agreed that the project should be researched and that a
common accounting system would be advisable and beneficial to the IWAI.
5 Membership
Membership Secretary Jean Kennedy reported that paid memberships was at
1,800. At least 400 members had not yet paid their subscription – of these a
large percentage were members who had joined last year.
The Branches were reminded that they must take responsibility for
membership renewal. Vice President Greg Whelan informed the meeting that all
the details of Branch Membership including payment methods and renewal dates
were included in the “ Lists” circulated by the Membership Secretary on a
regular basis.
On the proposal of Dave McCabe it was agreed that a membership Retention
Officer be appointed to work with the Branches and liaise with the
membership secretary.
6 Draft Bye Laws
Paul Garland thanked the Branches that had made submissions to the
Executive on the Draft Bye Laws. Those who had not yet done so were
encouraged to respond as soon as possible. The Executive will meet on the
5th.October to finalise the IWAI response to Waterways Ireland.
A presentation was delivered by Greg Whelan that had been prepared by the
Dublin Branch and covered the main points of concern. This presentation has
been circulated to the Council members and should be available to the
Branches through Council members..
A short but wide-ranging discussion took place after the presentation and
the contributions were noted for consideration by the Executive in their
reply to Waterways Ireland.
Branches were once again urged to forward their submissions as soon as
possible.
7 AOB
1. Royal Canal – the official opening will be held on Friday Oct. 1st.
2. Dunrovin/Carrick on Shannon – After the Summer recess the Committees
are getting together to advance the 2 projects.
Derry L Smyth
Hon Secretary ( Saved in IWAI Council)
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