It was held as an online meeting, hosted from Mountaineering Ireland’s office at Irish Sport HQ, Dublin. It was chaired by the Chair of the Board of Directors, David Pollard. Forty-six clubs were represented at the AGM. There were seventy-nine voting members present, which included six individual members.
The Chairperson, David Pollard, welcomed everyone to the AGM. The standing orders were adopted by the meeting as were the minutes of the precious AGM, which had been held as a hybrid meeting on May 23rd, 2023.
Chairperson’s address
David Pollard presented a summary of some of the key activities and outcomes of our organisation over that last year, covering Mountaineering Ireland events, training, hillwalking and club support, access and conservation, high-performance and governance. Read the full Chairperson’s report here.
The AGM granted full membership to the aspirant club Corrib Ramblers.
Siobhán Quinn gave the Company Secretary’s Report confirming that Mountaineering Ireland is compliant with the Sport Ireland Governance Code of Sport and that all legal and procedural requirements have been followed, including reporting and submissions to the Companies Registration Office.
The financial statements for 2023 were presented by Board member Dave Ayton, Chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee, showing a net deficit of €66,395 for 2023. Dave answered questions from Delegates on the financial statements and they were adopted by the meeting.
OSK Chartered Accounts were appointed as Auditors for 2024.
Motion 1 proposed by the Board, to increase the Annual Subscription payable by Club Members from €35 to €38 from 1st November 2024, was approved by the meeting. This is the first increase in club membership fees since 2019 and is necessary to meet rising operating costs (including insurance, website and IT, salaries, and production and distribution costs for the Irish Mountain Log). There is a reduced rate of €24 for club members under 26 years, and €8.50 for a club member under 26 years who is the son or daughter of a registered member of that club.
Motion 2 proposed by the Board, to change paragraph 3.h of the Constitution of Mountaineering Ireland to “The antidoping rules of Mountaineering Ireland are the Irish Anti-Doping Rules as amended from time to time” was approved by the meeting.
David Pollard, Martha Burton and Jacquelyn Moore were elected as ordinary members to the Board of Directors of Mountaineering Ireland.
Rita Connell, President of Mountaineering Ireland, thanked all the Board Members of Mountaineering Ireland for their work over the last year, and particularly commended David Pollard, for his work as Chair of the Board. She thanked the staff of Mountaineering Ireland, and expressed how much Board, staff and the members are looking forward to Liam Feeley starting in his role as CEO towards the end of June. Rita thanked the members for their attendance of the AGM and extended her thanks to all individual members, club members and club officers for spreading the word of Mountaineering Ireland and keeping up the values of the organisation.
